It’s something to do with those vegetables you didn’t finish.
In December, biotechnology firm Planet Sensory Systems — founded in 2007 and presently based out of UMBC‘s Research and Technology Park — received $1.8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to “support a three-year program to develop an enhanced energy (sugar) beet, optimized for biofuel production,” according to a press release.
Translated into layman’s terms: if this three-year project is successful, these super-beets will absorb fertilizer and water more efficiently, which will in turn allow the beets to produce a larger quantity of fermentable sugars, which are used in the production of biofuels.