Inside the Nursery That Supercharges Evolution

Twenty-four hours a day inside an old azalea greenhouse in Ghent, Belgium, robots and conveyor belts whisk thousands of rice seedlings through a digital screening system to pinpoint the heartiest, most fruitful specimens. The goal: to engineer higher-yielding, apocalypse-proof crops. Funded by chemical giant BASF, the robo-nursery performs artificial selection with unprecedented precision and speed. […]