New research shows that since modern crop varieties were introduced in the developing world starting in 1961, they have substantially reduced infant mortality, especially for male babies and among poor households.
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Some 9,000 years ago, corn as it is known today did not exist. Ancient peoples in southwestern Mexico encountered a wild grass called teosinte that offered ears smaller than a pinky finger with just a handful of stony kernels. But…
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Bright red, tasty and healthy, that’s how we know and love bell peppers. A research team has deciphered in detail at the protein level what makes them turn red as they ripen. At the heart of the project are the…
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The genetic material of plants, animals and humans is well protected in the nucleus of each cell and stores all the information that forms an organism. In addition, cells contain small organelles that contain their own genetic material. These include…
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Scientists are getting closer to finding the genes for maleness in waterhemp and Palmer amaranth, two of the most troublesome agricultural weeds in the U.S. Finding the genes could enable new “genetic control” methods for the weeds, which, in many…
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Researchers found wild relatives of sorghum in higher concentrations in Australia than anywhere else; the plants have potential to combat drought and extreme heat, but they need urgent safeguarding.
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Securing food supplies around the globe is a major challenge facing humanity, especially in light of the predicted increase in the world’s population to almost ten billion people by 2050 and the effects of climate change. Greater crop diversity in…
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Only 40 per cent of forests are considered to have high ecological integrity, according to a new global measure, the Forest Landscape Integrity Index. This index has been created by 47 forest and conservation experts from across the world
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Sudden death syndrome (SDS) is a devastating disease that afflicts soybean crops, causing annual losses in U.S. soybean yields in excess of $274 million dollars. New research shows that the trick to surviving the disease might be a matter of…
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Historically credited as being the first bacterium ever characterized as a plant pathogen, fire blight is a bacterial disease that leads to significant losses of pear and apple. The role of insects in the spread of this disease has been…
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