Across southeastern US, weedy rice steals herbicide resistance from crop rice
Weedy rice is a close relative of cultivated rice that infests rice fields worldwide and drastically reduces yields. To combat this agricultural pest, rice growers in the southeastern United States have been planting rice cultivars that were tweaked.....»»
Aligned peptide "noodles" could enable lab-grown biological tissues
A team of chemists and bioengineers at Rice University and the University of Houston have achieved a significant milestone in their work to create a biomaterial that can be used to grow biological tissues outside the human body......»»
Sister cities can help communities better navigate the climate crisis, research suggests
Anthropologists at Rice University suggest in a new study that establishing networks of 'sister cities' dedicated to addressing the impact of natural disasters can mitigate the devastation wrought by climate change......»»
Novel triple drug combination effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Scientists at the Ineos Oxford Institute (IOI) have found a new potential combination therapy to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by targeting two key bacterial enzymes involved in resistance. The study, "The Triple Combination of Meropenem, Avi.....»»
Intercropping viable for optimizing vegetable production on Mars
A group of crop systems analysts at Wageningen University and Research, in the Netherlands, has found evidence that intercropping on Mars could be a viable option for optimizing vegetable production......»»
Satellite images of plants" fluorescence can predict crop yields
Cornell researchers and collaborators have developed a new framework that allows scientists to predict crop yield without the need for enormous amounts of high-quality data—which is often scarce in developing countries, especially those facing heig.....»»
Researchers find that calcium can protect potato plants from bacterial wilt
Scientists have discovered that calcium plays a significant role in enhancing the resistance of potato plants to bacterial wilt. This disease causes worldwide losses of potatoes costing $19 billion per year. The findings open up new avenues for integ.....»»
Gene seekers discover atypical genes that control multiple valuable soybean traits
A team led by Purdue University soybean geneticist Jianxin Ma has developed a new biotechnological tool for the domestication of desirable traits from wild soybeans, such as resistance to leafhopper insect pests. The use of such tools, called de novo.....»»
Hong Kong team plants seeds to safeguard legacy grains
Far from the soaring skyscrapers synonymous with Hong Kong, scientists and farmers labor in a paddy field on the city's outskirts to revive dormant rice varieties that once sprung from local soil......»»
UV light treats beet disease and combats fungicide resistance
Germicidal ultraviolet light is effective at killing a damaging fungus that infects table beets, adding an important organic tool to fight the growing problem of fungicide resistance, according to a new Cornell study......»»
CRISPR is promising to tackle antimicrobial resistance, but bacteria can fight back
In his presentation "How to use CRISPR-Cas to combat AMR" at the ESCMID Global Congress, Assistant Prof. Ibrahim Bitar, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital in Plzen, Charles University in Prague, Plzen, Czech Repub.....»»
Experts develop way to harness CRISPR technology to deal with antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is continuing to increase globally, with rates of AMR in most pathogens increasing and threatening a future in which every day medical procedures may no longer be possible and infections thought long dealt with could ki.....»»
New dataset sheds light on relationship of far-red sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence to canopy-level photosynthesis
In recent years, the scientific community has increasingly turned its attention to sustainable agriculture, aiming to maximize crop yield while minimizing environmental impact. A crucial aspect of this research involves understanding the fundamental.....»»
Solar geoengineering to cool the planet: Is it worth the risks?
When I first wrote about geoengineering in 2012 , it was considered far-fetched at best, and crazy by most. But 12 years later, while there is still controversy and considerable resistance to deploying it, respectable scientists and institutions are.....»»
Philippine court blocks GMO "golden rice" production over safety fears
A Philippine court has blocked the commercial propagation of genetically modified golden rice because it said conflicting scientific views gave rise to "severe" health and environmental safety concerns......»»
Researchers uncover natural variation in wild emmer wheat for broad-spectrum disease resistance
Bread wheat is one of the most important staple crops for millions of people and is apparently the largest cultivated and traded cereal worldwide. Bread wheat is a hexaploid species with three subgenomes (2n = 6x = 42, AABBDD) that has undergone two.....»»
Previously unknown details of aphids in flight to contribute to improved crop security
Researchers led by a scientist at Keele University in Staffordshire have studied the previously unknown flight mechanisms of a common crop pest, to learn more about their movements in a bid to improve food security and prevent the spread of disease......»»
Researchers reveal sources of black carbon in southeastern Qinghai-Tibet plateau
Black carbon (BC) is the result of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, with strong light absorption. It is second only to carbon dioxide as a climate-forcing factor for atmospheric warming. Deposition of BC on snow and ice surfaces red.....»»
Probiotic feed additive, in place of antibiotics, found to boost growth and health in poultry
Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly serious threat for public health, and the use of antimicrobials in livestock feed has been a major contributing factor in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance to many drugs, according to the.....»»
Vibrations of granular materials: Theoretical physicists shed light on an everyday scientific mystery
Coffee beans in a jar and piles of rice or sand are examples of granular matter: materials composed of large numbers of macroscopic—rather than atomic scale—particles. Although granular matter is extremely familiar in everyday life, it represents.....»»
Making crops colorful for easier weeding by robots
To make weeding easier, scientists suggest bioengineering crops to be colorful or to have differently shaped leaves so that they can be more easily distinguished from their wild and weedy counterparts. This could involve altering the crops' genomes s.....»»