Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500
Subscription Center
As the world struggles to feed a growing population, shrinking maize plants through breeding might increase yields
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500
See what we're tweeting about
BoraZ Ha! RT @McDawg: I hope that @BoraZ doesn't mind (it's been a while) if post this. "The real face of Bora" http://t.co/s8zreP58VM
dbiello australia's coal: double whammy for the great barrier reef http://t.co/cDMQej9tAQ port construction & ocean acidification BoraZ On the science of a very bad tornado | Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT http://t.co/E62HHksV3p
Deadline: Aug 31 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative (GBFAI) is launching the 2013 Geoffrey Beene Global NeuroDiscovery Challenge whose
Deadline: Jul 30 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Seeker desires a method for producing pseudoephedrine products in such a way that it will be extremely difficult for clandestine che
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
4 Comments
Add CommentAlternatively, we could dwarf the people...who are getting bigger all the time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBy all means, let's improve our food crops, but let's also avoid using the improvements as an excuse to increase an already bloated population, which is what we did with the Green Revolution. If we don't, we'll just find ourselves facing an even bigger problem in the near future.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis seems to have a lot of potential. Corn is also used for livestock. Many places that have a difficult time growing human grade corn because of less than ideal situations could possibly grow corn for humans and/or increase yields for animal feed. Greater supply means lower prices.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this".... but pack all the nutritional content of a conventional corn plant."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is rather like saying "all the economic acumen of President G. W. Bush" or "all the warmth and humanity of President Lyndon Johnson".
While the project is a noble one, the grain itself is low in nutrition.
I also have problems with the phrase "but that corn has remained largely unchanged -- until now." Perhaps in the regard of height, but only in that regard.