Colorado State University | June Medford, plant biologist at Colorado State University, explains from her laboratory on the CSU campus how she’s discovered how to rewire plants so that they can detect environmental contaminants and explosives. Green plants turn white once they’re exposed to such contaminants — a discovery made by Medford and her collaborators including some 30 graduate, undergraduate, post-doctoral fellows and researchers in her lab.

Bill Farland, vice president for Research at CSU, says this is the kind of basic science at CSU — an institution with more than $300 million in annual research expenditures — that is making a difference in the world. Read more about this discovery here.