The unprecedented growth of the human population in the past half century has created an enormous rise in demand for farm land and agricultural production. Many farmers, however, are fighting an uphill battle. Crop land grows increasingly scarce and the rise of climate change as well as industrial pollution threaten the use of much of the existing farm land. New knowledge about the environmental effects of over-fertilization has resulted in a push to reduce or eliminate fertilizer use and created new regulations. This article tells of a new discovery that could lead to advancements to tackle some of these challenges and increase global food security. Researchers at the University of Nottingham's school of Biosciences have identified a protein that is critically important in helping plants absorb and retain nutrients in their root systems. To understand the discovery of Dr. Guilhem's team, one must first understand what a protein is and where they come from. A protein is a complex molecule in charge of structures and functions within a cell. There are thousands of proteins in any cell, each shaped to perform a special task. Some aid in organization, while others are important for cell structure. Proteins are produced from instructions contained within a cell's DNA. In this paper the class of proteins identified is called Uclacyanins. The specific role of these proteins remain uncertain. It is known that Uclacyanins do play a part in creating the main nanodomains located within the Casparian strips. Casparian strips are important ligning structures meant to assist in the intake of water and nutrients from the environment and withhold them. Researchers used DNA splitting methods to experiment with these proteins and replacing and adding different elements to the code to see what would occur. It could potentially give clues to what other protein functions are The article interviews the lead researcher, Dr. Guilhem who provides some additional insight into why he thinks this discovery is important. The study would reveal the process within plants to potentially improve nutrient and water efficiency and ability to tolerate stress. This makes the farming of crops more achievable through droughts and floods that carry toxic trace elements. These changes may benefit subsistence farmers with less fortunate soil and land or cash to obtain fertilizer. It is economically friendly as well as cost effective. Improving our understanding of such mechanisms is important, but there is still a long way to go before a commercially available product can be sold to farmers around the world. It's not difficult to see that there's still much work to be done in adapting this discovery to different plants and real world trials. Despite how significant the discovery is, the author of the article does a poor job establishing the necessary background to understand the research and does little to explain how the researchers arrived at their discovery. It is only after digging deeper into the actual study report did more things become clear.