In the quest to make tomatoes tougher against dry spells, scientists have turned to some unusual allies: fungi and natural plant boosters. The focus was on two Italian tomato varieties, Principe Borghese and San Marzano nano. The team used high-tech plant scanning to see how these tomatoes fared under water stress. First, they gave the seeds a head start with natura...

When water is scarce, barley plants need to be really smart about using their stored food. This study looked at three different types of barley plants to see how they handle this challenge. They found that one type, called Yousef, was way better at moving food from its stems to its seeds. This helps it grow even when there's not much water around. Scientists studied...