Source: MIT, 5/21/25
We’ve all felt the sting of guilt when fruit and vegetables go bad before we could eat them. Now, researchers from MIT and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) have shown they can extend the shelf life of harvested plants by injecting them with melatonin using biodegradable microneedles. Refrigeration is the most common way to preserve foods, but it requires energy and infrastructure that many regions of the world can’t afford or lack access to. The researchers believe their system could offer an alternative or complement to refrigeration. For the open access version of their paper, see https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/159257.