Sign up to IndyEat’s free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our food and drink newsletter for free Get our food and drink newsletter for free The humble potato chip, a ubiquitous snack, belies a sophisticated scientific endeavor spanning decades, with researchers meticulously engineering the perfect spud for our crunching pleasure. Behind every satisfying crunch lies a surprising amount of science, dedicated to cultivating potatoes that thrive in diverse climates, resist pests and diseases, endure months in storage, and meet evolving consumer demands, such as the shift towards snack-sized portions. “The potato industry is dynamic,” said David Douches, a Michigan State University professor who leads the school’s Potato Breeding and Genetics Program. “The needs change, the costs, the pressures that they have, and the markets change. So we have to adapt to that with our varieties.” Douches has been at the forefront of this innovation, developing five new potato varieties for chip makers over the past 15 years. His most recent breakthrough involves a bioengineered potato capable of maintaining a proper …