Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Posted by Bill Gates on May 09, 2011 Reposted from Gates Foundation blog Small Farmers Are the Answer On May 24, I’ll be giving a speech in Washington, D.C . to draw attention to farming families in the developing world and the important role they play in cutting hunger and poverty. I need your help in making…
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Flower power to help improve corn yield › News in Science (ABC Science) Flower power to help improve corn yield Wednesday, 4 May 2011 Anna Salleh Reposted from ABC Radio Australia Genes normally only active in the flowers of plants could be used to protect the whole plant from resist fungal disease, say Australian researchers….
Read More “Pollen defences used to protect corn and cotton against fungus damage” »
Farmers sore over low supply of Bt cotton seeds BS Reporter / Chennai/ Mysore May 03, 2011, 0:28 IST Over 10,000 farmers from villages around Mysore had gathered on the busy Jaganmohan Palace Road and the Ramavilasa Road to get their ‘quota’ of the much-vaunted Bt cotton seeds. Packets of the seed was being sold…
While at the 2011 Maize Genetics Conference, the Biofortified Executive Editorial Team (Hey that spells BEET), aka Anastasia and I, talked about many of the awesome things that have made it onto the blog, and things that have not yet done so. One of the craziest things that I learned from a fellow graduate student…
Many women, no Cry by Marcel Kuntz 29 April 2011 A recent publication by Aziz Aris and Samuel Leblanc in the journal Reproductive Toxicology (Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to Genetically Modified Foods in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada) claims to have detected traces of: herbicides (used on herbicide tolerant ‘genetically modified’ plant…
Read More “If you record noise, you don’t get music – you get nonsense.” »
An electronic review that contains high quality information about the economics of GM crops, including economics in developing countries, has become available with free access at Annual Reviews website. The pdf can be currently be downloaded (perhaps only for a limited time). The Economics of Genetically Modified Crops by Matin Qaim of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural…
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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…
Today we took the children to Table Mountain, a volcanic mesa in northern California. It is a special place, preserved from development by the dense, rocky texture of the soil- no good for farming. We strolled through carpets of flowers Lasthenia californica (California goldfields). Blemnosperma nanum (yellow carpet), Lupinus nanus, Triteleia ixiodies (pretty face), Castilleja…
The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear by Seth Mnookin “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Wise words from George Santayana, US philosopher and poet (in Life of Reason, ‘Reason in Common Sense,’ ch. 12). William L. Shirer made these words the epigraph for his Rise and…
Read More “The Panic Virus: By doing nothing we are doing something” »
Written by Matt DiLeo It’s 3 am local time and I’m wide awake, fixated on the challenge of brand differentiation in ketchup… I recently spoke with one of the ketchup tomato breeders I know. Among other topics, he lamented the consumer’s irrational fixation on price. He pointed out that most of us won’t hesitate to…