Raiders Of The Lost Crops: Scientists Race Against Time To Save Genetic Diversity
Elephants, snakes and crocodiles? Researchers around the globe faced risky situations to gather wild relatives of key foods. That genetic pool could be vital to helping crops adapt to climate change.
Call it a tale of science and derring-do. An international team of researchers has spent six years fanning across the globe, gathering thousands of samples of wild relatives of crops. Their goal: to preserve genetic diversity that could help key crops survive in the face of climate change. At times, the work put these scientists in some pretty extreme situations.
Just ask . Two years ago, the plant geneticist found himself in a
