Turning a C3 plant into a C4 one, though, is trickier than conferring flood resistance, since it involves wholesale changes in anatomy.

ECONOMIST: Genetic modification

The result, in the case of staple crops, is higher yields in tougher conditions: a hectare of rice, a C3 plant, produces a harvest of no more than eight tonnes, whereas maize, a C4 plant, yields as much as 12 tonnes.

ECONOMIST: Genetic modification

The group studied so-called "C3" plants, the most prevalent type of plant life on Earth for the past 400 million years.

CNN: Plants spread secrets about climate change

Whether plants are C3 or C4, the way they get carbon dioxide from the air is the same: The plant leaves have little holes, or stomata, through which carbon dioxide molecules can diffuse into the moist interior for use in the plant's photosynthetic cycles.

WSJ: Harrison H. Schmitt and William Happer: In Defense of Carbon Dioxide