When I was teaching American history, I used to describe the depression by spinning a yarn about a fictional farmer who’d already been through loads. Fluctuating prices meant never knowing what to plant. Although cars gave you enough mobility to have a social life, you were still limited to Read more…
In findings published this July in Nature Communications, researchers from McGill University say they may have found a climate-economic win-win via a helpful photocatalyst. This technique could transform two greenhouse gasses, carbon dioxide and methane, into plastics and fuel suitable for vehicles. Lead author Professor Chao-Jun Li said, “By tapping Read more…
This Tuesday, scientists from the American Geophysical Union announced in that adding pulverized volcanic rock to farmed fields could increase carbon sequestration to within the IPCC’s recommended levels by 2080 while also improving soil quality. The process is called enhanced rock weathering. Precipitation absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, rendering Read more…
An international team of scientists led by University College London announced Friday that they had successfully sequenced the genomes of two species of hornet, the European hornet (Vespa crabro) and yellow-legged or Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) as part of a larger project on invasive wasps and their ability to adapt Read more…
In findings published today in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, scientists from the California Academy of Sciences describe how one unassuming undulator, the Stellar’s sea cow, affected the kelp forests ringing North America’s Pacific coast before European visitors hunted it to extinction in the 1760s. According to the authors, our Read more…
The world’s farmers are now free to purchase and grow a new type of rice—a perennial. The strain, called PR23, is the culmination of over fifteen years of work. Unlike annual strains, perennial plants do not have to be replanted every year. But findings published this week in Nature Sustainability Read more…
We have come a long way since the 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat conventional wisdom of the 1990s fitness fads, but one thing remains the same: What goes into your body does matter …it just might not get there through your mouth. Researchers from the University of Michican Read more…