GoKawiilIrish teens discover soil bacteria can boost cereal crop growth
Three teenage girls from Kinsale, Ireland, followed up an accidental discovery of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in pea plant roots by testing whether the same bacteria could benefit cereal crops, which normally can't host them. Working from a home laboratory over three years, Émer Hickey, Ciara Judge and Sophie Healy-Thow soaked barley, oat and other cereal seeds in rhizobium cultures and tracked germination and growth against controls, despite experts warning the bacteria wouldn't help non-legume plants.