Can we hack DNA to grow more food for a hotter, hungry planet?

Jose Dinneny, a professor of Biology at Stanford University, with Arabidopsis thaliana plants that he has been engineering with synthetic gene circuits. — Bay Area News Group/TNS

SAN JOSE: To feed a hotter and drier planet, Stanford scientists are building a smarter plant.

The team has genetically reprogrammed plants, nurtured in a laboratory chamber, to grow roots that are long or short, branched or slender — traits that change the ability to gather nutrients or water.