Stem cell growth, required for kernel development, is controlled in corn by a set of genes called CLEs. But how these genes change the corn is complicated. Using CRISPR genome editing, CSHL ...

Corn--or maize--has changed over thousands of years from weedy plants that make ears with less than a dozen kernels to the cobs packed with hundreds of juicy kernels that we see on farms today ...

Ear traits (ear row number, cob diameter, cob length, EKPR, ear mass, cob mass, KW, TWKW and KNUM were measured on two open-pollinated ears harvested from each plot.

A 5,310-year-old corn cob. Bruce Smith. Corn is one of the modern world’s most common crops, covering countless acres of fields and popping up in everything from cereal boxes to fuel.

Maize as we know it looks very different from its wild ancestor. The ancient cob is less than a 10th of the size of modern corn cobs, at about 2cm (0.8inch) long.

After about five thousand years of cultivation, teosinte (or maize) became a staple crop, widely relied upon for nourishment. It took another few thousand years for Europeans to arrive, and for ...