“Samurai Wasps vs. Stink Bugs” is not the title of the latest Avengers film. But it does describe new efforts by Cornell University scientists to control a household nuisance and agricultural pest.
Working with space commercialization company Space Tango, a team of UK College of Pharmacy researchers are studying the potential medicinal benefits of sending plants to space.
A UF/IFAS researcher has found root-knot nematodes in the hops-growing area of the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, but scientists think the nematodes can be controlled.
Agronomists and farmers are working hard to improve the sustainability of agricultural land. The June 22nd Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains which greenhouses gases are released in agriculture, and efforts to reduce them.
The sustainable environments interdisciplinary graduate program’s floating islands research project has returned to Iowa State University’s Lake LaVerne for the first summer since 2015. While the project still measures nutrient uptake from the water, this year’s research adds pollinator plants to determine if floating islands could also help threatened insects such as bees and butterflies.
Unlike humans, crops in a field can't move to air conditioning to endure a heat wave. Scientists in Australia are working to understand how heat waves impact wheat.
In recent articles in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, scientists optimize experimental design for understanding potential chemotherapeutic agents, delve into crop responses to salt-water stress, and present a better way to ensure consistency in long-term proteomics studies.
Plants can be genetically rewired to resist the devastating effects of disease – significantly reducing crop waste worldwide – according to new research into synthetic biology by the University of Warwick.Led by Professor Declan Bates from the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre (WISB) and Professor Katherine Denby from the University of York, who is also an Associate member of WISB, researchers have developed a genetic control system that would enable plants to strengthen their defence response against deadly pathogens – so they could remain healthy and productive.
Iowa, known for its farms, also claims fame to a dramatic, rolling landscape known as loess hills. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 15 Soils Matter blog post explains what formed this feature, and why its soil requires special care.
Ecologists from the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are forecasting a larger-than-average Chesapeake Bay "dead zone" in 2018, due to increased rainfall in the watershed this spring.
For decades, biologists have believed a key enzyme in plants had one function—produce amino acids, which are vital to plant survival and also essential to human diets. But for Wellington Muchero, Meng Xie and their colleagues, this enzyme does more than advertised. They had run a series of experiments on poplar plants that consistently revealed mutations in a structure of the life-sustaining enzyme that was not previously known to exist.
Headed out on vacation? Don’t forget to observe the soil along the way! Soils Matter, Soil Science Society of America’s science-based blog, can points out the soil landmarks. Bon voyage!
Systems biology was used to identify previously unknown protein targets of plant pathogens in Arabidopsis thaliana, employing some of the same methods used to analyze social networks. This theoretical framework could help analyze other interactions between species to reveal pathogen contact points.
One of the iconic ingredients of the Mediterranean diet, which often has been associated with beneficial effects in the prevention of cancer as well as several other disorders, is extra-virgin olive oil. For thousands of years, olive trees were planted on Mediterranean coasts, initially by ancient Greek colonists, followed by several other civilizations and cultures, one generation after the other.
For desert, how about a scoop of ice cream flavored with vanilla from Florida’s farmers? Because so many consumers enjoy vanilla, University of Florida scientists hope to help Florida farmers grow the bean.
Scientists have identified patterns in how and when sorghum plants flower that could help plant breeders and growers predict other important traits in a wide range of environments and geographic regions. The research team created an index based on photothermal time, a crucial phase in a plant’s development when it processes the environmental cues of sunlight and temperature. The research looked at sorghum, but the scientists believe the same method could be applied to a range of plants, including other crops.
High school science and agriculture teachers are gettting Ideas for new curriculum units and the chance to network with university professors and other teachers through iLEARN.
Students in Gonzaga University’s Collegiate DECA Club kicked off the growing season recently in the GU Campus Garden, planting a variety of vegetables and learning to grow food using sustainable practices. Through their efforts, students learn the empowering nature of taking food security into their own hands.
Spring came later this year, but high inter-annual variability is not unusual, according to geospatial scientists who been tracking the growing season since 2000 using environmental satellite data.
We experience fortified food in items like vitamin D-fortified milk or fortified breakfast cereals. But what is biofortified food? The June 7th Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains what biofortified food is. It also explains how crop scientists are using it to solve malnutrition worldwide.
Technion researchers have found they can significantly increase agricultural yields, by using nanoscale delivery platforms that until now were used to transport drugs to specific targets in a patient's body. The technology increases the penetration rate of nutrients into the plant, from 1% to approximately 33%.
Radiocarbon dating is a key tool archaeologists use to determine the age of plants and objects made with organic material. But new research shows that commonly accepted radiocarbon dating standards can miss the mark — calling into question historical timelines.
All plants take up carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. During this changeover, the plants emit an energy “glow” that is not visible to the human eye, but can be detected by satellites in space. Now, researchers at the University of New Hampshire have taken that one step further. By using satellite data from different major land-based ecosystems around the globe, they have found that the photosynthesis glow is the same across all vegetation, no matter the location. This first-of-its-kind global analysis could have significance in providing more accurate data for scientists working to model carbon cycle and eventually help better project climate change.
As climate change brings more severe, more frequent wildfires and droughts throughout the western United States, land managers are increasingly challenged to find the best restoration approaches—and the right kinds of seeds to plant for successful outcomes. At the same time, pollinators such as bees, birds and butterflies are in decline, which poses a major threat to both conservation and agriculture. A cross-disciplinary team of NAU ecologists recently received a five-year, $935,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study which plants are most fit for restoring damaged lands and capable of supporting diverse pollinator communities.
There are hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of organisms in just a handful of soil. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 1 Soils Matter blog explains the important role of soil microbes in freeing up soil nutrients for plants.
Recently published research from Iowa State University plant scientists maps the stress response detected by the endoplasmic reticulum, an organelle in cells of corn seedlings. The study shows how cells transition from adaptation to death when faced with persistent stress and could help plant breeders develop stress-resistant crop varieties.
Lafora disease is an ultra-rare, congenital form of epilepsy; every patient diagnosed with it dies before they are 30. Research into the mechanisms of glycogen metabolism at the University of Kentucky show promise for treatments for this and perhaps other forms of epilepsy.
Summertime is recreation time! While the wilds may call us, respect for ecosystems should guide us. Soils Matter, Soil Science Society of America’s science-based blog, explains why we should protect life underfoot.
Researchers have recently published results identifying the major sources of E. coli breakouts on several beaches on Lake Michigan. They have also researched an effective method of reducing the breakouts and the resulting beach closings.
Scientists hope to use trichoderma to supplement various pest-management methods to help control Fusarium wilt in crops including tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, eggplant, watermelon and strawberries.
The large and small, beautiful and bizarre are among the newly discovered animals, plants and microbes announced by the College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) as the Top 10 New Species for 2018.
Growers strive for a reliable food supply for the world’s population. And they use science to do so. The May 22nd Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains how growers’ use of the right fertilizers and pesticides, at the right time, is a continuously improving science.
Brookhaven Lab software engineer Arfath Pasha is helping build out the infrastructure for a web-based bioinformatics platform designed to ultimately help scientists optimize sustainable energy production and improve the environment.
Jet fuel, pantyhose and plastic soda bottles are all products currently derived from petroleum. Sandia National Laboratories scientists have demonstrated a new technology based on bioengineered bacteria that makes it feasible to produce all three from renewable plant sources.
Their goal is to make this form of ethanol less expensively than gasoline and help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
“The forests are natural draws for outdoor recreationists looking to see native Florida,” said Taylor Stein, a University of Florida professor of forest resources and conservation. Forests in Florida are home to all kinds of fascinating plants, trees and animals.
Contrary to previous analyses, research published by Michigan State University shows that projected changes in temperature and humidity will not lead to greater water use in corn. This means that while changes in temperatures and humidity trend as they have in the past 50 years, crop yields can not only survive – but thrive.
In Texas, the Southern High Plains uses water from an aquifer to water cotton fields. However, the aquifer is running low. Scientists from the area are working to find the best irrigation method for cotton that uses the least water.
To say that hard cider has been making a comeback is an understatement. In the U.S. alone, the hard cider market has increased more than 10-fold in the past decade, with sales reaching $1.5 billion in 2017. And Gregory Peck, assistant professor of horticulture, has been paying attention. Taking advantage of this upward trend, Peck has been tapping cider’s full potential to grow New Yorkstate’s apple market. Now he’s at the forefront of a hard cider renaissance.
Texas A&M AgriLife research will collaborate with the Texas Department of Agriculture and the University of California at Davis on a project to help agricultural producers and consumers through improving nitrogen use efficiency and food safety in spinach
The College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) will announce the Top 10 New Species for 2018 next week.
More neighborhoods are incorporating native grasses to their landscapes—but it’s not as easy as one might think. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) May 15 Soils Matter blog outlines the necessary conditions to rehabilitate land back to native grasses.
The College of Environmental Science and Forestry will announce the Top 10 New Species for 2018 this month. News about the Top 10 New Species will be distributed in an embargoed news release Monday, May 21. The embargo will lift at 6 a.m. EDT Wednesday, May 23.
April showers might bring May flowers, but they also bring the arrival of troublesome plants such as poison ivy and poison oak that can cause mild to severe allergic reactions.
New research in plants shows that a gene called MUTE is required for the formation of stomata — the tiny pores that a critical for gas exchange, including releasing the oxygen gas that we breathe.
Healthy, fertile soil feeds our garden’s growth. The May 7th Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains how to build soil health in two words: organic matter!
Weedy plants will thrive and displace long-lived, ecologically valuable kelp forests under forecast ocean acidification, new research from the University of Adelaide shows.
In an amazing achievement akin to adding solar panels to your body, a Northeast sea slug sucks raw materials from algae to provide its lifetime supply of solar-powered energy, according to a study by Rutgers University–New Brunswick and other scientists.
"Genetic Management of Fragmented Animal and Plant Populations" examines how management of fragmented plant and animal populations can improve through practical applications of conservation biology.
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