*This post was written under the influence of 48% milk chocolate 🍫  A future without chocolate seems almost unimaginable. Nightmarish, even. But according to UC Berkeley’s Brian Staskawicz, it is a very real possibility. The world’s cacao crops, the majority of which are grown in the West African countries of Ghana and Côte D’Ivoire, are under siege from the combined threats of climate change and disease. Excessive rains damaged last year’s harvest, as did the ravages of the Cacao Swollen Shoot Virus (CSSV), an infection spread by tiny insects called mealy bugs. Reductions in supply last year made cacao a more lucrative commodity than bitcoin. At Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute, Staskawicz and his colleague Myeong-Je Cho are working towards solutions, using CRISPR gene editing technology to create cacao plants that are resistant to CSSV and other diseases.  While the team’s primary goal is to save the source of chocolate for future generations, they hope their work also b...