SAN DIEGO — Plants not only bring life to our planet as food, feed and fiber, they are an efficient tool when it comes to taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Now with the help of artificial intelligence, scientists are retrieving faster data to help engineer ideal plants in an effort to combat climate change.
"So, if you've seen behind the scenes footage of people, of actors, wearing all these big motion capture suits with these balls and little dots, the principle is the same except that we do it without a suit," explained Pereira. "Plants are the world champion of taking carbon dioxide out of the air and putting it into their biomass or even in the soil. And they are more efficient than any machine we have built so far on the world and plants are everywhere," said Wolfgang Busch, PhD, Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Sometimes there are hurdles in nature that can prevent deep root growth. Note the circular shapes created by the roots of these rice plants. These roots are having a hard time punching through a tough layer in the lower gel that mimics soil, which is a problem if you want to have deep roots. The deeper the roots, the better.