Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Know your tomatoes May 13, 2011 Re-posted from Phys.org Genetically modified (GM) tomatoes look much the same as traditional varieties (Fig. 1). But are they? By comparing the chemical diversity of strains of GM tomatoes with a control strain and traditional reference cultivars, a research team in Japan has developed a way to distinguish between…
Written by Matt DiLeo The “perennial grain” story seems to pop up every few months. The basic idea is that perennial crops would have higher yields and lower environmental impacts than their annual kin. The picture on the left explains pretty clearly why – large permanent root systems secure the topsoil, exhaustively scavenge water and…
Guest Post: Dr. Robert L. Thompson is a senior fellow for The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Over the past few months, we’ve watched as governments have been overthrown in Tunisia and Egypt, as governments across North Africa and the Middle East promised reforms, some…
Read More “Proving Malthus Wrong: Sustainable Agriculture in 2050” »
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…
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.” »
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…
GMOs are not the only fashionably foolish denialism sloshing around the internet. Chris Mooney explains over at Mother Jones: “So is there a case study of science denial that largely occupies the political left? Yes: the claim that childhood vaccines are causing an epidemic of autism. Its most famous proponents are an environmentalist (Robert F….
Read More “In the culture war of fact: lead with the values” »
Welcome to ISAAA – India Biotech Information Center Mandy and Fanny: The Future of Sustainable Agriculture A novel educational cartoon publication featuring two characters, “Mandy” and “Fanny”, which illustrates the attributes of biotech/genetically modified (GM) crops –biotech maize (corn) and biotech cotton and are viewed as the “Tom and Jerry” of modern agriculture. The cartoon…
Read More “Mandy and Fanny cartoon book for teaching kids about sustainable farming– from ISAAA” »
from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation webpage on BioCassava Plus BioCassava Plus The Need Cassava is central to the diets of more than 250 million people in Africa. Though rich in calories, it offers limited nutritional value. As a result, many people who rely on cassava as their main source of calories are deficient in a…
Read More “Bill and Melinda Gates are giving a boost to BioCassava Plus too” »