Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Quasi-science prevents an environmentally friendly agriculture and forestry (see original blog post here) European legislation in the field of genetic engineering is so narrow that it blocks the ability of researchers to take progress from publicly funded basic research on plants through to practical applications. We, 41 scientists who have received funding for basic research on…
Sixty members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, comprising many of America’s most eminent biological scientists, and including Nobel Laureates Dr. James Watson and Dr. Gunter Blobel, have written to the US Environmental Protection Agency expressing their concerns about recent EPA moves to change biotech crop regulations. Professor Nina Fedoroff of the Pennsylvania State…
Read More “Fedoroff Letter to EPA raises serious concerns over EPA blundering” »
If you’re a graduate student like I am, PHD comics is an essential source of comfort. Emotionally and physically, graduate work is difficult. You’re working long hours with little pay and often (but not always), little gratitude. There are reasons for this, but to get the job in the first place you’ve got to be…
Field of Dreams in Dyersville, IA by John Bollwitt. We often talk about the science of corn (aka maize) but there’s so much more to it. I’ll be leaving corn country soon to start a new job, and I know I’ll miss being in the center of so much maize. Consider the natural beauty of…
I like sci-fi. I’m not your typical Star-Wars nerd, instead I like B-movies. You know… the low-budget creature feature movies that entail some giant creature killing everything in sight? They’re fun, campy, not at all meant to be taken seriously, yet can be useful in teaching about biology due to their reliance upon urban legends. Still,…
I had the pleasure of speaking today with Matthew Nisbet, author of a controversial report about communication of climate change. Matt’s full report Climate Shift is well worth a read, but is a bit daunting at almost 100 pages. Andrew Revkin has an excellent play by play discussing Matt’s report as well as the commentary…
Written by Colby Vorland Corporate involvement in public health is a sensitive topic, but one I am largely against. It is pretty clear that corporations usually get the benefit of bettering their brand image (which is often largely unhealthy processed products) at a low cost of sponsorship of health campaigns. See plenty of great/unfortunate examples on…
Merry Mou won first place in the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship. 700 to 900 students participate with their research projects in a variety of categories, including physics, biology, and computer science. Winners are chosen to go on to state and national competitions. Merry Mou won 1st place in Botany in the 2010…
Howdy How y’all, its your friendly neighborhood genetically modified organism, here, Frank N. Foode™. I greet each sunrise with my chloroplast grana revving up their photosystems with the incoming light. Before long I am splitting water and ready to greet the world. Then I check my twitter feed (as all plants should). This morning I…
The USDA announced recently that Roundup Ready® alfalfa is cleared to be planted anywhere in the US without restrictions. In contrast to previous GE crop approvals, this time the USDA listed three potential options, the first being no approval at all, the second, unrestricted approval, and the third, approval with certain geographic restrictions. (For some…