Hey there! Have you ever wondered how plants deal with super hot weather? 🌞 Well, Chinese scientists have been working on a cool solution! They’ve found a way to help crops like tomatoes and rice grow better even when it’s really hot outside.
As the Earth gets warmer, it’s harder for plants to grow. A rise of just 2 degrees Celsius can cause crops to lose 3 to 13% of their harvest. That’s a big problem because we all need food to eat!
But here’s the exciting part: scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences used a special tool called gene editing. 🧬 They added something called a “heat-shock element” to a tomato gene named LIN5. This helps the plant make more sugar even when it’s hot, so the tomatoes grow big and tasty!
They tested these super tomatoes in greenhouses and open fields. Guess what? The tomatoes grew 14 to 47% more in normal weather and 26 to 33% more when it was hot! That means more yummy tomatoes for everyone. 🍅
They also tried this on rice. The special rice plants grew 7 to 13% more in normal temperatures and 25% more in heat. That’s a lot of extra rice! 🍚
This amazing discovery helps make sure we have enough food, even as the planet gets warmer. It’s like giving plants a superpower to beat the heat! 💪🌡️
The world is working hard to keep temperatures from rising too much. The Paris Agreement is a plan many countries signed to try to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.
Thanks to these smart scientists, our future looks a little brighter—and tastier! 😋
Reference(s):
Chinese scientists pioneer climate-smart crops to fight global warming
cgtn.com
