Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
“Genetically engineered corn could harm aquatic ecosystems.” Catchy title, right? In summary, the scientists found that caddisflies, a common prey of freshwater fish, can be killed when they eat parts of transgenic corn plants that are expressing the BT toxin. This is certainly a problem, but one that has solutions. First of all, the actual…
Where a transgene incorporates into a plant’s chromosomes can not be controlled. So, scientists have to transform many plants, and hope that at least one individual didn’t have the transgene interrupt a native gene. One solution to this problem is called a mini-chromosome. This technique uses the natural centromere sequence of an organism to build…
Poplar trees genetically engineered to remove carcinogens from groundwater. The trees have been genetically engineered with a gene for an enzyme that breaks down contaminants in groundwater. The gene is actually from rabbits, where the enzyme breaks down toxins in the rabbit’s liver. The next step of the project is to find an applicable gene…
Read More “News: GMO poplar trees, recycling, stress reduction” »
Vaclav Havel, of Prague, wrote an intriguing editorial about global warming in the NY Times title “Our Moral Footprint.” With my recent trip to Prague, I was intrigued to see how someone from the Czech Republic might feel about the subject, and it turns out to be very similar to how I feel about the…
Read More “News: ‘Moral Footprint’, ‘Crossroads’, ‘mobile slaughter units’” »
Teosinte is a so-called primitive version of corn. Basically it’s corn’s version of our monkey, but corn and teosinte can still interbreed. To a corn breeder, teosinte is a puzzle box of genes that have been lost from maize cultivars. What secrets wait for us to discover? We could find disease resistance, drought resistance, improved…
Chickens fed an enzyme have less phosphorus in their waste. Animals can not digest most of the phosphorus in their grain based feed because of the way it is tied up in the molecules phytate and phytic acid (which occur naturally in the grains fed to the chickens). The enzyme phytase lets the phosphorous molecules…
Read More “News: chicken feed, stress tolerant rice, shark overfishing” »
We’ve all tried those chocolate covered espresso beans, and were left spitting out bitter bits of bean. A new product provides that boost without the yuck factor. ‘Sumseeds’ will be coming soon to a truck stop near you. They are in-shell sunflower seeds infused with caffeine, taurine, lysine, and ginseng. They will be the official…
Genetic engineering at its best! An article from the Discovery Channel describes a promising new method of producing vaccines. The current method takes about nine months each year. It relies on hens laying millions of eggs. Live flu viruses injected into the eggs multiply, then the eggshells are broken, the viruses are inactivated and are…
I just got back from a visit with a nutritionist. I generally make good choices, but wanted to get concrete numbers for what my daily fat, protein, and carb intakes should be. She was really nice, and was candid enough to say that dark green veggies actually have more calcium than milk. Calcium from plants…
Today was the World Food Prize Symposium, where policy makers from around the world meet to discuss world food problems. The prize was started by Norman Borlaug. His took the idea of hybrids from corn production in Iowa (where he grew up), applied them to rice, and effectively ended hunger in Asia. The main topic…