Beanie Babies are back… on the menu?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Growing food is great! Chemical fertilizers polluting the environment? Not so great.
Enter Nicola Cook and team at the John Innes Center in the U-K. They found a way to give plants a nutritious edge – sustainably.
They changed a gene called C-N-G-C-15 in legumes and wheat.
This modified gene teams up with soil microbes to help plants absorb nourishment more effectively! Forty-five percent more effectively!
In the future, plants could do more of the work, requiring less chemical fertilizer. This breakthrough could lead to greener farming, higher crop yields, and healthier ecosystems!
Finally, all this science will amount to a hill of beans!
Reference: Cook, N.M., Gobbato, G., Jacott, C.N. et al. Autoactive CNGC15 enhances root endosymbiosis in legume and wheat. Nature 638, 752–759 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08424-7