A new startup called GrowX is using aeroponics–a system that GrowX founder JP Martin calls the “magical unicorn” of agriculture–to cultivate cannabis in controlled, indoor environments. The idea of aeroponics has been circulating for at least a half a century after scientists studying plant roots realized that exposed roots, nourished by water vapor, would still yield plants. Aeroponics requires no soil nor any hydroponic apparatus–instead, the roots of the plants are suspended in controlled, moist environments and fed that way. NASA used aeroponics to grow beans aboard the MIR space station in 1996; research from that experiment, Martin says, showed that aeroponics requires 95% less water than traditional outdoor farming, 40% less water than indoor hydroponic systems, and results in growth rates as much as 300% larger than traditional yields.