Improving Plants with a Tool Borrowed from Birds

In a rapidly changing climate landscape, the plants we rely on for food, textiles, and more face a multitude of challenges, including rising temperatures, drought, and disease. Caltech’s Gözde Demirer , the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, uses genetic engineering tools to make crops more resilient to such threats and enhance plant health. Now, she and a team of Caltech researchers have found a new solution to an old problem in an unlikely source: the zebra finch.