The pinnacle of modern science: tear-free onions

Not that they don’t tear apart. Just that they don’t make you cry.

Crop and Food, a research institute in New Zealand, used gene-silencing to shut off the onion’s biggest flaw. They are hoping to have a prototype onion hitting the market in a decade.

Colin Eady is the senior scientists behind the breakthrough. Here’s what he told AFP: “The technology creates a sequence that switches off the tear-inducing gene in the onion so it doesn’t produce the enzyme. So when you slice the vegetable, it doesn’t produce tears.” He anticipates that the health and the flavor of the onion will actually be enhanced this way. Me? I’m a bit skeptical. But have a decade to wait to see if its justified.