Joanne Chory

Imagine the grass that never needs mowing can grow to any height you want, and do not contain pollen that causes allergies. It has already been done.

http://www.discover.com/web-exclusives/n ...

Joanne Chory of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies Howard Hughes Medical Institute are working on exactly that.

Has not yet been done. Press release:

"She said it should also be easy to do in the grass." You could probably make the grass any height you want. So you could be very, very short, you could make interim, you can even do more if you put in a different gene, "she said. "

If * * easy to do in the grass is one thing. This is another of the engineer.

At the very least, it will be 2-3 years for development. After that, it requires approval by regulatory agencies for the dissemination of genetically modified uncontrollably (for example, non-greenhouse) environments, which is expensive, especially for the published material for residential applications. It can take years and millions of dollars. Add on top of that patent rights, and the question is will people buy it?

The "Flavr-Savr" tomato developed by Calgene was supposed to be a billion dollar idea, the maturity "of the vine" tomatoes ready for harvest, blah blah blah. Withdrawn from the market in 1997, the Flavr Savr at a cost of $ 25 million (in 1994 dollars) at a minimum, tank before selling the company to Monsanto.

Not all great ideas are successful.

It would be a shame if it puts them out of business. I mean, who does not listen to beautiful music of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc.? It's so soothing and relaxing!

Cool idea. Gosh, I miss the sweat working under the hot summer sun, the deafening noise of engines, not to mention the smoke and air pollution.

It will be terrible ...