How we're using DNA tech to help farmers fight crop diseases | Laura Boykin

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized Talk recommendations and more. Nearly 800 million people worldwide depend on cassava for survival -- but this critical food source is under attack by entirely preventable viruses, says computational biologist and TED Senior Fellow Laura Boykin. She takes us to the farms in East Africa where she's working with a diverse team of scientists to help farmers keep their crops healthy using a portable DNA lab and mini supercomputer that can identify viruses in hours, instead of months. Get TED Talks recommended just for you! Learn more at http://TED.com/signup. The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a Media Request here: http://media-requests.TED.com Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED

Topics:

["TEDTalk", "TEDTalks", "Farming", "Science", "Collaboration", "DNA", "TED Fellows", "Africa", "Food", "Community", "Technology"]

Duration

Duration minutes: 12

Duration seconds: 28