Atomic Gardens: Breeding Plants with Gamma Radiation

One of the reasons the debate over genetically engineered (GE) crops seems so silly -- we've been using such a haphazard approach to genetic mutation for so long, with somewhat unpredictable success that GE looks like a much saner and targeted process.

1:http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Duration_Exposure_Facilit...

They sent some of them to schools to let kids try planting tomato seeds that had been in space alongside ones that had stayed on Earth, to see if we noticed any differences (or any lack of viability of the space-exposed seeds). Both of them grew well for me. My mom wouldn't let me eat the tomatoes from the ones that went to space, though.

By the time of the LDEF experiment the message seemed to be, not that the radiation would likely improve the plants, but that it was useful to know whether it would damage them appreciably. It's interesting to contrast that with a time when it was common to think it would likely produce useful mutations.