Agriculture

  1. 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.

    By Susan Milius
  2. 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.

    By Laurel Hamers
  3. 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.

    By Susan Milius
  4. Agriculture

    ‘Big Chicken’ chronicles the public health dangers of using antibiotics in farming

    A new book takes a hard look at the chicken industry for its role in fostering antibiotic resistance.

    By Cori Vanchieri
  5. Agriculture

    GM moth trial gets a green light from USDA

    GM diamondback moths will take wing in a New York field trial.

    By Helen Thompson
  6. Climate

    Climate change might help pests resist corn’s genetic weapon

    Rising temperatures may allow pests to eat corn that is genetically modified to produce an insect-killing toxin.

    By Susan Milius
  7. Climate

    Changing climate could worsen foods’ nutrition

    Climate change could aggravate hidden hunger by sapping micronutrients from soils and plants, reducing nutrition in wheat, rice and other crops.

    By Susan Milius
  8. Genetics

    How to grow toxin-free corn

    Corn genetically altered to produce specialized molecules may prevent a fungus from tainting it with carcinogenic toxins.

    By Elizabeth Eaton
  9. Agriculture

    Fleets of drones could pollinate future crops

    Chemist Eijiro Miyako turned a lab failure into a way to rethink artificial pollination.

    By Elizabeth Eaton
  10. Animals

    Too many stinkbugs spoil the wine

    Stinkbugs can ruin wine if enough are accidentally processed alive with the grapes. Three or fewer stinkbugs per grape cluster don’t have a noticeable effect on red wine.

    By Elizabeth Eaton
  11. Anthropology

    DNA points to millennia of stability in East Asian hunter-fisher population

    Ancient hunter-gatherers in East Asia are remarkably similar, genetically, to modern people living in the area. Unlike what happened in Western Europe, this region might not have seen waves of farmers take over.

    By Meghan Rosen
  12. Genetics

    CRISPR used in cows to help fight tuberculosis

    Chinese researchers used a CRISPR/Cas 9 gene editor to make cows more resistant to tuberculosis.

    By Helen Thompson