Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Written by Matt DiLeo JetBlue airlines now gives out blue potato chips as their “official” snack. I’m very impressed by the fact that these blue potato chips exist. It’s no small feat to create a good-frying potato with excellent agronomic qualities in itself. I can’t imagine crossing in blue coloring (anthocyanin expression) on top of…
Written by Matt DiLeo Someday you’ll be able to use CAD software to draw up what you want a plant to look like and the software (containing detailed growth models) will tell you what genetic constructs you need to bring it into the world… But for now we barely understand how natural morphological variation is…
Written by Matt DiLeo “Heirlooms were varieties that were so unsuccessful that they wouldn’t be sold today… Every product declines until it’s replaced by new heirlooms.” The backlash was inevitable.
Written by Matt DiLeo I recently had the opportunity to visit the fabled heart of the USDA-ARS empire: Beltsville. I heard all about the tornado that knocked down all the campus trees, smashed in the greenhouses and threw doors down hallways a few years ago, visited their food sensory lab (a controlled environment where fruit samples…