Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

IBM To Help Sequence the Chocolate Genome

Posted by timothy on from the 'bout-time-they-got-some-real-priorities dept.

Dekortage writes "The New York Times reports this morning that IBM will work with Mars — the candy company who makes M&Ms and Snickers, among other things — on a five year project to sequence the cocoa genome. According to Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science at Mars, the goal is to 'discover the genetic building blocks of traits like disease and pest resistance, drought tolerance and perhaps flavor.' Additionally, the project's results will be available for free from the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture."

2 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe the flavor by Frantactical+Fruke · · Score: 2, Interesting

    See, that's we went from delicious but tiny wild strawberries and tomatoes to big red water bags traded under the same name: taste always comes last in the industry's priorities. Perhaps someone could clue in the cocoa producers that chocoholics can be just as discerning about taste as wine aficionados ...okay, most of us are barely more discerning than your average back alley wino...

  2. wo! by BigBlueOx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    M&M Mars?? GIVING away research?? "The CIA of the candy industry"?? The company that won't even give plant tours to schoolchildren for fear of exposing trade secrets?? The candy company with NDAs?? The company that won't even reply to schoolchildren's letters with *promotional* *literature*??

    Ok. What's *really* going on?

    oops KIR - KOS lol cya