THE FLOODING that inundated much of midwest USA in mid-July turned a timid tributary in Iowa into a raging torrent, transforming a nearby transgenic test plot into a small part of a giant river system.

The damage to the research programme run by Pioneer Hi-Bred International was relatively small, according to their spokesperson Tim Martin, because they have the corn growing on two other plots as well. What is worrisome is that corn from the flooded field might take root elsewhere, though Martin dismisses the probability as unlikely because the plants were too young at the time of the flood.