Heat-Resistant Potato Crop; Proposed Climate Tax, and More

AGRICULTURE

Tenacious tubers thrive in high heat

A research team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has genetically modified potatoes to be more resilient to global warming. Published in Global Change Biology in December 2024, an article on the team’s field trials describes a 30% increase in tuber mass under high-heat conditions.

“We need to produce crops that can withstand more frequent and intense heat wave events if we are going to meet the population’s need for food in regions …