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They next constructed a synthetic microbial community, dubbed SynCom, that closely mirrored the one found in association with a high-theanine tea variety called Rougui.

When they applied SynCom to tea roots, they found it boosted theanine levels.

They now plan to further optimize SynCom and assess its use in field trials.

Ms. Norwood also led the design of the transmitter and microwave receiver for the world’s first communications satellite, Syncom 2, used in the first two-way satellite call between government leaders when President John F. Kennedy in Washington chatted with Nigeria’s prime minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, in 1963.

In 1964, the launch of a third Syncom device allowed live television signals to be transmitted around the world from the Olympic Games that summer in Tokyo.