KRT) – ST. LOUIS – In one hand, plant geneticist Michael McMullen holds black teosinte kernels, the seeds of what scientists say is the grassy ancestor of corn. In the other, he holds needlenose pliers – definitely needed to crack the tough hulls into a few starchy bits.
The work, a joint project among the University of Missouri, the University of California at Irvine and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is published Friday in the journal Science.