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Wired

Meet the Plant Hacker Creating Flowers Never Seen (or Smelled) Before

Wired
Summary
Nutrition label

64% Informative

Sebastian Cocioba is a plant biotechnology researcher who works out of his home laboratory in Huntington , New York .

He is trying to recreate the 19th-century boom of amateur plant breeders.

In the US , genetically modified flower work is covered by the lowest biosafety rating, so it doesn’t subject him or his lab to onerous regulations.

One idea he’s playing with is engineering a plant to smell like old books, olfactorily transforming a room into an ancient library. The startup is exploring a whole smellscape of evocative scents, Cocioba says, in part designed in his home laboratory. “I really, really, love what they’re doing. ”This article appears in the January/February 2025 issue of WIRED UK magazine..

VR Score

67

Informative language

70

Neutral language

10

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

50

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

likely hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

long-living

External references

no external sources

Source diversity

no sources

Affiliate links

no affiliate links