Most of the world’s rice is grown in southeast Asia by small farmers, who cannot afford for their crops to fail. The bacterial disease Xanthomonas can destroy half of a harvest in a single season; submergence under water can wipe out an entire crop in three days. Pamela Ronald and her lab at the University of California–Davis have genetically engineered rice seeds to withstand both Xanthomonas and flooding.

Recorded June 2010; Posted August 2010