Sustainability & Climate Change
Food production needs are expected to roughly double over the next 35 years as the world population grows and people in under developed countries become more affluent and demand more calories. Healthy ecosystems are vital to the survival of all organisms. How can we grow crops without harming the environment? How can we balance technology and global food security? What is the right balance of organic and conventional farming? What role can genetics and biotechnology play without compromising the needs of tomorrow?
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Eliminating photosynthesis ‘bottleneck’ could boost crop yields by 10%
Scientists have found how to relieve a bottleneck in the process by which plants transform sunlight into food, which may ...
Bacteria inoculate crops against salty soil, potentially bringing unworkable farmland back to life
[S]cientists have used bacteria found in the roots of salt-tolerant plants to successfully inoculate alfalfa plants against overly salty soil ...
Crops engineered to destroy infected cells could fight off deadly diseases
Hiding inside each plant cell, protein complexes encoded by disease resistance genes are like sleeping armies, waking up and activating ...
CRISPR breathing new life into wheat and other crops—can it avoid GMO controversy?
The food industry is hopeful the new gene-editing technology can help create new crop variants without running into the activist ...
Viewpoint: Want to fight climate change? Embrace GMOs, don’t ban them
The fight against climate change has become one of the most widely discussed topics in the UK and globally. And ...
GMO crops cover 191 million hectares worldwide—113-fold increase since 1996
Biotechnology can be used to develop stress-tolerant and more nutritious crop varieties to protect natural resources and human health. Each ...
CRISPR-edited wheat resists humidity damage, could yield higher quality flour
Scientists have created a rain-resistant wheat variety using genome-editing technology, a breakthrough that could lead to the development of higher-quality ...
Smartphone app could help banana growers spot major diseases before they strike
This work is a step towards creating a satellite-powered, globally connected network to control disease and pest outbreaks ...
GMO Bt cowpea could save Nigeria millions in crop imports annually
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) says Nigeria can save billions of naira if it cuts down on its importation ...
Exploring the biotechnology revolution in food and medicine
Biotechnology develops cellular and bimolecular processes to create products that will make our lives easier .... Today, biotechnology fights against ...
Plant-based Impossible, Beyond burgers will help wean consumers off meat, Whole Foods CEO says
In 2013, Whole Foods gave plant-based meat start-up Beyond Meat its first shot at selling its vegan “chicken” strips at ...
Restaurants struggling to keep up with demand for Impossible Burger, alternative ‘meats’
There is no better illustration of the pent-up demand for alternatives to meat ...
Podcast: Bridging the gap between farmers and consumers on GMOs, sustainable agriculture
Agronomist and entrepreneur Robert Saik has a lifetime of experience in farming. For years, he has been a leading advocate ...
CRISPR guacamole, anyone? Gene-edited avocados could survive disease, cold climates
Researchers from Texas Tech University and the University of Buffalo have studied avocados in a way that is best described as ...
Video: Prof Joe Schwarcz on why bugs may be coming to our dinner plates
Pretty soon there will be 9 billion people coming to dinner. That population boom is going to require an increase ...
Viewpoint: Facing climate change, global hunger crisis, we should fix our ‘faulty food system’
Fixing the world’s “faulty food system” is increasingly being recognized as one of the key ways to fight climate change ...
‘Teaching plants new tricks’: How synthetic biology is reshaping agriculture
Aug 7-9, San Jose, California – the American Society for Plant Biology (ASPB) showcased the latest research in Plant Synthetic Biology ...
Radar and robots: Can technology turn honeybees into more efficient pollinators?
According to the Bee Informed Partnership, 37.7% of managed honey bee colonies were lost during the 2018-19 winter — the ...
Lab-grown burgers and now…coffee? Seattle-based startup developing bean-free ‘molecular’ java
[Recently], the United Nations shared yet another alarming report about climate change. This time, it focused on the threat to ...
Viewpoint: Our favorite Cavendish banana may be heading towards extinction—Scientists say only a biotech solution, blocked by anti-GMO activists, can save it
Shall we just resign ourselves to the eventual demise of the banana, or take steps to save it? ...
‘Supercharged’ GMO crops could store 20 times more CO2 than average plant
Scientists are experimenting with new genetic modification technology that “supercharges” plants to enhance what they already excel at– sequestering carbon ...
AI could help farmers cut weather-related crop losses by 25% as global food demand soars
The AI in agriculture market was valued at USD 600 million in 2018 and is expected to reach USD 2.6 ...
USDA green lights commercialization of GMO, drought-tolerant soybean
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given its approval to Verdeca for HB4® drought tolerant soybeans which will allow ...
Is lab-grown meat really a solution to climate change?
To tackle the threat of climate change, there has been a proliferation of harebrained solutions. Right now, the fad du ...
This indoor farmer wants to turn rural Kentucky into America’s ‘high-tech agriculture capital’
Jonathan Webb’s farm doesn’t look like much: tawny soil stretching to a line of trees, a trailer with a few ...
Following approval of GMO crops, Nigeria sets sights on other biotech advances, including gene editing and synthetic biology
Africa's most populous nation has achieved significant strides in biotechnology ...
Microorganisms could help rid soil of lingering pesticides
Pesticides have been widely used after the Second World War in management of weeds, diseases and pests of plants. Most ...
