His group first looked to nature for inspiration, using studies of the biochemistry of organisms that survive without water: 500-year-old Chinese lotus seeds, the hardy resurrection plant of the Sonoran desert and the microscopic tardigrade creature.
In 2010, the Center for Food Safety and some organic farmers who stood to gain by attacking conventional and GM crops convinced a court on procedural grounds there was no finding of environmental or health dangers to void the five-year-old approval of transgenic sugar beet seeds.
It is the first time in the history of the 20-year-old Dubai Open that all top four seeds have reached the semifinals and del Potro and Berdych were largely untroubled in their last eight clashes.