"Useful Mutants, Bred With Radiation"

I read an interesting article this week about the use of radiation in plant breeding.

In a nutshell, radiation is used to expose seeds and randomly mix up their genetic material. This mixing causes random mutations; some of these mutations can be useful, some cannot.

Some beneficial mutations that have been found through radiation include tougher shells for peanuts, higher yielding varieties of barley, dwarf rice varieties, and the famous Ruby Red grapefruit. Many more commodities and produce have been created through this process.

Read more about it here.