We don't eat gelatinisation temperature, but we cook rice.

That's how Dara Daygon began her talk on gelatinisation temperature, that range of temperatures in which rice is cooked, as a response to Harold Corke's previous presentation ("We do not eat gelatinisation temperature.").

(Dara, on gelatinisation temperature classes.)

Dara concentrated on the genetics behind gelatinisation temperature, showing the distributions of samples with high and low gelatinisation temperature. However, breeders aim for intermediate, a class not explicitly seen in the distributions. The gene associated with high- and low- gelatinisation temperatures is identified, but what pulls the values up or down into the intermediate range is still unknown.

Why is gelatinisation temperature important if it can't be eaten? This property is directly proportional to how long it takes to cook rice. And that is related to fuel consumption, water use, etc. that falls into the realm of the social sciences.