Hello fellow Gridcoiners and Steemians,
as a convinced Gridcoiner, I keenly follow the development of Gridcoin, the progress that is made by the developers, the kindhearted and open community who welcomes each and everyone who wants to et involved in Gridcoin, either in mining, staking or just helping the crypto advanced in whatever way. You people are awesome!
Seeing the spirit of so many people working together I had an idea, which includes something you could use a few of your earned Gridcoins for: What about science?
My idea: Hands on plant breeding. Solid, science backed plant breeding. Executed by the community, the very community that is willing to spend thousands of dollars in equipment and electricity altruistically although their „reward“ can often not cover thei costs (yet!). Many of them „boincing“ way longer than Gridcoin even exists, and before gridcoin, for no reward at all, other than helping humanity in general. Back to the idea:
Picture 1: DNA helix
I would like to invite the gridcoin and steemit community to discuss with me about what plant to breed, and then subsequently take a look at the science behind it and proceed to breed it, together with everyone who wants to get involved. We will look for a few traits we want to combine in a new variety, breed it, and if we are successful we maybe could even register the variety officially. Every step of the way will be done and decided by the community, as we are many and together we can do tremendous things!
Things that I would offer in the process:
Keeping the project alive. The scope of the project is probably, depending on what we want to achieve, 5 years and more. We can create a hybrid quite quickly, but a whole new variety takes more time. So keeping the project alive as coordinator is the most valuable I can offer. I will update everyone on the project through steemit, I could furthermore create a thread on the cryptocointalk forum if wanted. Although it will take some time, everybody can join and leave on a ca. 6 month basis, depending on which plant we choose.
Providing the scientific background. What is breeding, how does it work, how can we determine what to breed, how do we do it? I am a plant scientist, therefore I can provide you with structured, evidence backed knowledge, I know where to get the facts we need and I am able to use a couple of scientific resources, and would prepare them that everybody can understand them.
Gardening advice. As we will work with plants (ideally some that only need a little space on a windowsill, but this will be decided by the community) and I want everyone to able to participate, I will give gardening advice to those who do not have any or little experience. Furthermore, it is important to do it more or less the same way, as this impacts the breeding as well. I have an gardening experience of 10-15 years depending on the plant cultivated, therefore I can give useful advice, as well as help „troubleshooting“ should the plants become sick or get pests.
Picture 2: Tomato flower
Picture 3: Pepper plant with fruits
This is not a procedure I invented on my own, e.g. in the netherlands breeding is sometimes done via a cooperation with universities and farmers, with universities providing the knowledge and farmers providing samples from their fields, amplifying the area where the crops can be grown. I would really like a small scale adaptation of it!
Last but not least: I will charge nothing. Unavoidable costs (shipping and the sorts) will be only payable via Gridcoin, and I will only charge what I spend and I will present proof of everything. If the project gets attention I will always list every participant with nickname or name (or not at all, your choice!), as this is a community effort. As the 1.000.000 block is approaching, already a project name came to my mind: Project „One in a million“. Let me know what you think!
Edit: I renamed the project. I think plantbreeding@home resembles more the connection to boinc and is more poignant. :)
P.S.: I posted this with the tag „Gridcoin“, as I thought that especially this community would like to engage in a real life experiment, although non-Gridcoiners also will be able to take part . Ideally, it will connect members and engage newcomers to get involved in science and Gridcoin! Furthermore I see the BOINC- and Gridcoin-spirit in this project, as this is a shared endeavour, beneficial for everyone. Nevertheless, if this is not wanted, I will alter/move the post, just tell me.
Dysprosium
Picture 1: By Michael Ströck (mstroeck) - Created by Michael Ströck.Copied to Commons from en.wikipedia.org., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=694302
Picture 2: By Victor M. Vicente Selvas - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14655941
Picture 3: By Daniel Risacher - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1189373
EDIT: added the tag #plantbreedingathome that everything concerning this project might be found easily in the future!