Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
One of the most iconic and misunderstood behaviors of honeybees is the “swarm.” People fear the swarm – it conjures up thoughts of an unstoppable venomous aerial assault – and yet ironically it is the most friendly and tame way to encounter honeybees! Catching swarms is one of the most fun and exciting things about…
I love bees. For over a decade I have been a hobby beekeeper, tending to my hives, catching swarms, and following the news about my flying friends. There is a lot to like about bees, from their biology and behavior to the geometric beauty of their hives. And of course, the delicious boldness and subtleties…
Hi everyone, Frank N. Foode™ here. I was hanging out, smelling some Tulips in Madison, WI, and none other than Dr. Michael Grusak stopped by from the Baylor College of Medicine to give a seminar on his nutritional research into Golden Rice. I was so excited I ended up live tweeting the whole thing on…
Happy May, everyone! Frank N. Foode™ here to announce the start of a new community contest here on the Biofortified Blog! Spring is an exciting time for a plant such as myself. Farmers and gardeners everywhere are planning and planting, tilling and drilling, and hoping for a good summer grilling! Around the hemisphere, plants are…
Ladies and gentlemen, here is the latest in my series of Pollination Methods videos that I make as part of my thesis project. While carrots and beets are not closely related, they share similar life cycles, pollination methods, and even breeding goals – so I put both of these root vegetables in the same video….
Editor’s note: republished with permission from The Biology Files. By Emily Willingham A study from a Chinese group led by Chen-Yu Zhang of Nanking University and published in Cell Research, has uncovered the fascinating result that when people eat rice, they can absorb microRNAs (miRNAs)–tiny sequences of RNA–from the rice into the blood. These rice-originating miRNAs…
Read More “Why did The Atlantic publish this piece trying to link miRNAs and GMOs?” »
On or about today, Halloween, the world is expected to surpass 7 Billion human inhabitants. That is, plus or minus 56 million. Based on estimates from the United Nations, October 31st lies in the middle of a 12-month margin of uncertainty, wherein is is highly likely that more than 7,000,000,000 people will simultaneously be alive…
Written by Kevin Folta Last night I woke up in a fog, face down on the couch, fully dressed with my work clothes on. It was 3:44 AM and the artifacts around me described the scene. A partially eaten salad, my glasses crooked on my head, a laptop with an exhausted battery and the television…
This is part I of a three-part series on Orgenic* Backlash. How is the organic sector handling the argument in favor of integrating of genetically engineered crops into organic agricultural systems? When I read the news a few weeks ago I was at first puzzled, and then inspired. Jim Riddle, Organic Outreach Coordinator for the…
Read More “Why plant breeding is incompatible with Organic Agriculture” »
The UK supermarket Waitrose announced that they are selling a brand new variety of strawberry, a pale white berry with red seeds dubbed the “Pineberry” so named because it tastes and smells like pineapple. The berries appear in the Daily Mail article Pineberries and cream? The new summer fruit which looks like a white strawberry……
Read More “New strawberry making people sick? (April Fools)” »