{
    "author": null,
    "date_published": "2026-08-30T03:34:23.000Z",
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    "domain": "scienceblog.com",
    "excerpt": "When three teenagers glimpsed what others dismissed as plant disease, they saw a path to solving agriculture's nitrogen problem\u2014and the scientific establishment's skepticism only made them dig deeper.",
    "lead_image_url": "https://scienceblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/pea-plant-roots-nodules.png",
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    "title": "Three schoolgirls in Kinsale pulled up a pea plant covered in warts and, instead of binning it, spent three years testing 13,000 seeds in a spare bedroom \u2014 the bacteria living in those warts made barley germinate 50% faster, and the adults who said it wouldn't work on cereals watched them take Google's grand prize",
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