'Cosmic crops' poised for harvest on Earth: UN agencies.

UN food and atomic energy agencies are readying to reap the rewards of a ground-breaking 'astrobotany' investigation, with the announcement that seeds sent to space in 2022 are now poised to return to Earth.

'This is science that could have a real impact on people's lives in the not-too-distant future, by helping us grow stronger crops and feed more people,' Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a statement on Monday.

With the world's population estimated to reach almost 10 billion by 2050, there is a clear need for innovative solutions through science and technology aimed at producing more food, as well as crops that are more resilient and farming methods that are more sustainable, the agencies said.

While similar experiments have been carried out since 1946, this is the first time that the IAEA and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are conducting genomic and biological analyses on seeds sent to space in around 60 years of experience in inducing plant mutations that could be of benefit to people and planet.

The experiment aims at developing new crops that can adapt to climate change and help boost global food security, it was pointed out.

Two kinds of seeds are now in space: arabidopsis, a type of cress that has been studied extensively by plant botanists and geneticists, and sorghum, which belongs to the family of millets and is a drought and heat-tolerant grain grown in many developing countries for food.

The seeds...