A greenhouse facility of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Seibersdorf, Austria.
Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
Climate Change Is Launching a Mutant Seed Space Race
Nuclear watchdog is exposing sorghum and cress to orbital radiation in experiment to trigger resistance against global warming.
Hurtling around the Earth at more than 20 times the speed of sound, some of the tiniest life forms aboard the International Space Station are on a mission to feed people on a warming planet.
Seeds of sorghum and cress launched into orbit by the International Atomic Energy Agency are tethered to the capsule via a thin metal box. That’s exposing them to more-intense solar radiation in a trial to induce genetic mutations so they can survive hotter temperatures, drier soils, spreading pestilence and rising sea levels.