To the ancient Hebrews, the grain rust that so often attacked their crops was nothing less than God's punishment for their sins. The Romans, who knew the same agricultural scourge, placed a special god in charge of it and prayed to him for mercy. In King Lear, Shakespeare blamed rust's presence on a "foul fiend" named Flibbertigibbet. Whatever its origin, the fungus is still thriving; its red, yellow and orange splotches on stems and leaves cause a grain-crop loss of hundreds of millions of dollars every year. And every time that modern...
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