To the delight of sakura (cherry blossom) lovers everywhere, botanists at Kyoto University have discovered a way to make cherry trees flower more than once a year and plans are already afoot to introduce pink to the autumnal palette.
By manipulating the sakura's genetic markers, researchers say they have essentially tricked Mother Nature into reproducing spring's bounty again in the fall.
Like so many great scientific discoveries, the breakthrough was a bit of a fluke.