It's pretty bold to stand up publicly, like at your TED talk, and say, you know, one of the biggest, most intractable problems we face right now?

I think I personally can do something about it.

I recently had an epiphany.

But that's what plant biologist Joanne Corey did. This was in

2019. I realized that I could actually play a role in solving one of the biggest problems

that faces mankind today, and that is the problem of climate change. The idea was to enlist

plants. Joanne had spent her career studying them.

Her discoveries into how plants respond to light made her famous and revered among plant scientists.

Her work is so fundamental, it's in textbooks.

And it led her to this big idea.

Maybe her study subject could be harnessed to fight climate change.

And every experiment that I have done in my lab over the last 30 years

has been directed toward doing the really big experiment, this one last big experiment.

She knew it was her last big experiment because she was diagnosed with Parkinson's,

a fact she also shared in her TED talk.

This gives me a sense of urgency that I want to do this now while I feel good enough to really...

I called Joanne in the fall of 2024.

And even though her Parkinson's was more advanced, she was still working.

She didn't even really seem like she'd slowed down much.

She was even doing interviews.

I think we should just wait it. All right, let's wing it. Let's just dive in.

Okay. Okay. I wanted to hear more about the work and what she was trying to achieve. And

...