Nature has provided humans with over 300,000 species we can eat. Today, we get the majority of our calories from just a dozen plants. This monoculture approach to agriculture suffers from issues like the threat of a major collapse of food systems in case of the rise of a disease targeting one of these few species. But that is a theoretical threat. The unavoidable question is whether these few plants can feed the expanding population on the … [Read more...]
Scientists discover another cause of bee deaths, and it’s really bad news
So what is with all the dying bees? Scientists have been trying to discover this for years. Meanwhile, bees keep dropping like... well, you know. Is it mites? Pesticides? Cell phone towers? What is really at the root? Turns out the real issue is really scary, because it is more complex and pervasive than thought. Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million … [Read more...]
What Do You Think To The Prospect Of Eating Insects?
By 2050, the UN expects that there will be almost 10 billion people on the Earth. This poses some serious practical questions, not least among which is how we'll put food into 2.5 billion or so extra tummies (especially given that we don't adequately fill all of the 7-plus billion we already have). If you're yet to hear alarming phrases like "food security" and "sustainable intensification" you've probably been living under a rock. Which is apt, … [Read more...]
Crops Can Be Made Self-Fertilizing With Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria, Making Artificial Fertilizer Unnecessary
A second Green Revolution? Nitrogen fixation is the process by which nitrogen is converted to ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen that is necessary for plants to grow. Problem is, only a few plants like legumes (peas, beans, lentils) can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The vast majority of plants have to get their nitrogen from the soil, and there's not enough of it everywhere. That's … [Read more...]
Black Magic House Built Quicker Than You Can Say “Abracadabra”
Located on the edge of a forest near Budapest, the prefabricated Black Magic House by T2.a Architects is, as its name suggests, both black and a house. The "magic" part? The home's basic structure was built in just two days, and the entire process – from sending off the digital plans to receiving the prefab parts and completing the structure – took only a week. Black Magic House is constructed from inexpensive building materials, in this case … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Prevent Food Waste at Home
Watch Your Trash
For one week, take note of what's in your trash. Don't just look at it, but analyze everything that goes in the bin or down the disposal. (If you're really serious, you might jot down your observations in a notebook.) Then adjust your habits. If you threw away half a box of stale cereal, either buy a smaller box or store cereal in an airtight container immediately after opening. If week-old leftovers are … [Read more...]Cactus Needles Inspire New Method Of Cleaning Oil From Water
Tiny spikes of copper, inspired by cactus thorns, have the ability to remove micro-droplets of oil in water, according to Chinese researchers, and could lead to more effective cleanups of oil spills. The researchers, who noted that the cone-shaped spines of cactus can harvest water from the air and move it to their base due to surface tension and the shape of the spines, emulated that natural design function in a new development using artificial … [Read more...]
Metabolix Engineers Plants To Make Cheaper, Cleaner Bioplastic
Petroleum-based plastic may be fantastic, but due to the durability that makes the material so popular it may take hundreds of years to break down. Plastic made from renewable biomass, known as bioplastic, is a biodegradable alternative to fossil fuel versions. A company called Metabolix, based in Cambridge (MA), has been working on a technology to genetically engineer plants such as switchgrass to create a biodegradable polymer that can be … [Read more...]
New technique for turning sunshine and water into hydrogen fuel
A new technique developed by a University of Colorado Boulder team converts sunshine and water directly into usable fuel. The technique involves concentrating sunlight in a solar tower to achieve temperatures high enough to drive chemical reactions that split water into its constituent oxygen and hydrogen molecules. In this way, the team says it should be able to cheaply produce massive amounts of hydrogen fuel. The team's solar thermal system … [Read more...]
Raising the Visibility of Coal Plant Water Pollution
Who knew a beauty contest could be so gross? Activists in St. Louis staged a Hazmat Swimsuit Contest last week to highlight the immense amount of toxic pollution that local coal plants dump into the area's waterways, an article by Sarah Hodgdon reports. "Rather than wear swimsuits, the competitors all wore hazmat suits to illustrate that St. Louis area water is too toxic to swim in, let alone drink!" said St. Louis Beyond Coal Organizer Sara … [Read more...]
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