Better Coffee Through DNA
Brazil has announced the creation of a coffee DNA data bank, which will help the country improve the quality and size of its coffee crop. The story was reported by the AP, here on CNN.com.
Brazil’s agricultural research agency and the Sao Paulo State Research Foundation worked on the Coffee Genome Project over the past two years, mapping 200,000 coffee DNA sequences. Now they hope the data bank, a collection of DNA sequences from different coffee plants, will help them learn how to engineer the plants to improve the flavor and aroma of the brewed beverage.
Coffee is one of several commercial crops geneticists have been studying, including rice, corn, and wine grapes.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
The worst technology of 2021
Face filters, billionaires in space, and home-buying algorithms that overpay all made our annual list of technology gone wrong.
A horrifying new AI app swaps women into porn videos with a click
Deepfake researchers have long feared the day this would arrive.
Meet Altos Labs, Silicon Valley’s latest wild bet on living forever
Funders of a deep-pocketed new "rejuvenation" startup are said to include Jeff Bezos and Yuri Milner.
A gene-edited pig’s heart has been transplanted into a human for the first time
The procedure is a one-off, and highly experimental, but the technique could help reduce transplant waiting lists in the future.
Stay connected
Illustration by Rose WongGet the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.