Agriculture
- Climate
As CO2 increases, rice loses B vitamins and other nutrients
Field experiments add vitamins to list of nutrients at risk from a changing atmosphere.
- Agriculture
Nanoparticles could help rescue malnourished crops
Nanoparticles normally used to fight cancer could also be used to treat malnourished crops.
- Genetics
Sweet potatoes might have arrived in Polynesia long before humans
Genetic analysis suggests that sweet potatoes were present in Polynesia over 100,000 years ago, and didn’t need help crossing the Pacific.
- Ecosystems
When bogs burn, the environment takes a hit
Bogs and other peatlands around the world store outsized amounts of carbon. Climate change and agriculture are putting them at risk.
- Plants
The flowers that give us chocolate are ridiculously hard to pollinate
Cacao trees are really fussy about pollination.
- Agriculture
Grapevines are more drought-tolerant than thought
Grapevines handle drought better than previously thought. This could inform irrigation management.
- Earth
Gassy farm soils are a shockingly large source of these air pollutants
California’s farm soils produce a surprisingly large amount of smog-causing air pollutants.
- Animals
The mystery of vanishing honeybees is still not definitively solved
The case has never been fully closed for colony collapse disorder, and now bees face bigger problems.
- Animals
Honeybees fumble their way to blueberry pollination
Blueberry flowers drive honeybees to grappling, even stomping a leg or two down a bloom throat, to reach pollen.
- Animals
EPA OKs first living pest-control mosquito for use in United States
Feds approve non-GM male tiger mosquitoes for sale as fake dads to suppress local pests.
- Agriculture
Much of the world’s honey now contains bee-harming pesticides
A controversial group of chemicals called neonicotinoids has a global impact, tests of honey samples show.
- Plants
José Dinneny rethinks how plants hunt for water
Plant biologist José Dinneny probes the very beginnings of root development, which may have important implications for growing food in a changing climate.
