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Early land plants didn\\u2019t have leaves. At a certain point, they evolved. In fact, the anatomy found in C4 leaves evolved 60 times, and leaves themselves evolved at least twice but probably no more than 6 times, essentially independently from one another. Now, this is a complex genetic change we\\u2019re talking about. How did this happen? That\\u2019s what Jane Langdale is trying to figure out.

The whole of Jane Langdale\\u2019s research is about shoot development in plants. When a shoot develops, it can either turn into more stems or into a leaf. The leaves then, more or less efficiently, convert sunlight into usable energy. The interesting thing is this: a small minority of plants have a specialized anatomy that allows them to convert sunlight more efficiently. The goal is to engineer that anatomy into crops like rice or wheat. \\u201cAnd if we could do that, then it\\u2019s predicted that we could increase yield by about 50%.\\u201d

Hit play to hear more about Jane Langdale\\u2019s research. Subscribe, review, and if you can, consider donating some BitCoin. Every little bit helps.