New Technologies to Enable Sustainable Agricultural Practice

Agricultural practices are greatly affected by climate conditions, as changes in temperature and precipitation patterns have led to shifts in crop growth and yields. Warmer temperatures are responsible for increased evaporation rates, leading to dry soils and reduced crop growth.

Global food supply is in danger. Microalgae promise abundant healthy food and feed in any environment

The global food supply faces a range of threats including climate change, wars, pests, and diseases. Microalgae, an organism too small for the human eye to see could offer some answers. Here’s how.

Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell was born on July 5, 1996

On July 5, 1996, a female sheep named Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell was born. Scientists from the Roslin Institute (an animal sciences research institute at Easter Bush, Midlothian, Scotland) in Scotland successfully cloned Dolly using the process of nuclear transfer from a cell taken from a mammary gland.

Robert Koch announced the discovery of the tuberculosis bacterium on March 24, 1882

On March 24, 1882, German physician and microbiologist Robert Koch (11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) announced the discovery of the tuberculosis bacterium. since 1982, March 24 is commemorated by the World Health Organization (WHO) World Tuberculosis Day to raise public awareness. Today’s (March 24) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, …

Covid-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020

Covid-19, the highly-contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. Today’s (March 11) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history.

Bioengineered Cotton Could Help Solve World Hunger

Humans have relied on cotton’s textile fiber for nearly seven millennia. However, utilizing cottonseed as food has been a long and unfulfilled goal of many plant breeders. Along with its abundant, high-quality protein, cottonseed also contains gossypol – a toxic chemical that renders the seed inedible. Cottonseed’s fate as a mostly unusable by-product seemed sealed …

Importance of Microbial Contamination Analysis of Fresh Produce

Fresh produce is perhaps the most common food product we consume daily. Fresh produce includes unprocessed fresh fruits and vegetables, which are the type of foods that can bring the best nutrition to our bodies. It’s very important for any food producer to conduct a Microbial Contamination analysis for their fresh produce. Here are the …

Sustainable Pesticide Use with Intelligent Spraying

Pesticides may be essential in ensuring abundant and healthy yields of many crops, but so far, the techniques used to spray them have led to considerable environmental damage. In his research, Dr. Mark Gleason, a plant pathologist at Iowa State University, assesses the performance of new technologies that can deploy pesticides on apple trees in …

Competition and Cooperation in Evolution

Despite the old adage “nice guys finish last”, cooperation is common in life – from the scale of genes or cells through to entire societies. Although these two ideas seem to contradict each other, Dr. Egbert Giles Leigh Jr. has demonstrated throughout his career at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama that working together …