Search for the perfect peanut

Peanut varieties created at the Wild Peanut Lab at the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. With funding from the candy giant Mars, scientists at the university are genetically designing a peanut that can thrive in a changing climate. — Rinne Allen/The New York Times

THE Peanut M&M was in trouble.

It was the early 2000s, and complaints about rancid nuts were piling up at Mars headquarters in McLean, Virginia, so fast that they had outpaced the combined consumer complaints about Snickers, Twix and even the company’s extensive dog-food line.