Better soybeans

e! Science News (Quebec City, April 3) -- Crops that produce more while using less water seem like a dream for a world with a burgeoning population and already strained food and water resources. This dream is coming closer to reality for U. of I. researchers who have developed a new computer model that can help plant scientists breed better soybean crops. "The model lets you look at one of those goals individually or all of them simultaneously," said Praveen Kumar, a co-author of the study who is the Lovell Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Illinois. "There might be some areas where you look at only one aspect – if you're in an arid zone, you can structure things to maximize the water efficiency. In other areas you may want to concentrate on food productivity." Also: Lab Manager Magazine (Midland, Ontario, April 3), ECNMag (Rockaway, N.J., April 3), Phys.Org (Douglas, Isle of Man, April 3), Science Codex (San Jose, Calif., April 3), Science Daily (Chevy Chase, Md., April 3), Technology.org (Vilnius, Lithuania, April 4), Scientific Computing (April 3), Pacific Standard (April 25).