People are x-raying their plants! 

And no, they’re not looking for undiscovered plant bones.

It’s called digital agriculture, and it’s being developed in plants like tomatoes and corn to study the best ways to keep crops healthy in this changing world.

Because if you want to see if your plant is healthy, you have to check in on its roots. But you can't-- they’re literally buried where you can’t see them.

So as researchers work on developing crops that can thrive in a changing climate, they need to see how /all/ of the plant is doing. Not just the top leafy parts.

Then, researchers can keep cultivating the particular plants that did better, resulting in plants that are better adapted to survival.

Basically, they give a plant an x-ray CT scan, and then can make a digital mock up of that individual plant's roots on their computer. All without harming the plant.