Narrator: : This is Science Today. How do you play a traditional game of baseball in a new domed stadium? That's the question that was put to agricultural expert Steve Cockerham of the University of California, Riverside.

Cockerham: The situation has come up where more and more purists in sport are interested in playing or seeing sports played on natural grass. But there's also more interest in dome-type stadiums, or at least enclosed stadiums. The question came up when a baseball franchise was awarded to Phoenix, and you can imagine that baseball in Phoenix in the afternoon in August might be formidable task just to sit through the game.

Narrator: : But Cockerham and his fellow researchers have come up with a natural grass that can tolerate the low amount of sunlight the Phoenix playing field will be exposed to. The stadium dome will stay open for several days at a time, and then closed and air conditioned for the several days of a home stand. The new grass is the first that will tolerate that regimen and still meet the standard for professional sports. For Science Today, I'm Steve Tokar.