Everyone learns that plants need sunlight. Material Farming bets that's just one mode of their being. Plants once fed on sugars and other nutrients for millions of years, before Earth was hospitable to photosynthesis. If they still remember how to metabolize sugars, then theoretically, we could promote certain properties in plants by feeding them purposefully tailored diets.

The proof is scrappy and beautiful: a dark box with a thermal camera inside, capturing a time-lapse of plants growing in total darkness through the heat they release.

If it works, we could grow food where sunlight is scarce and grow materials with properties baked in, like cotton that's already blue and needs no dye, without resorting to toxic chemicals or genetic engineering.