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.
Once-promising field of advanced biofuels is in ‘shambles’—can it be revived?
[Jay Keasling, a synthetic biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and chief executive of the Joint BioEnergy Institute] did ...
How GMO crops can benefit Nigerian farmers
The application of modern Biotechnology in an integrated multi-disciplinary approach can be a valuable ‘tool’ for addressing the several challenges ...
Viewpoint: European organic industry’s obsession with ‘natural’ threatens CRISPR innovations and hurts the environment
What is nature? What is natural? Philosophers have been arguing about this since antiquity. Supporters of organic farming seem to ...
Viewpoint: Legal certainty, public support needed to unlock biotech’s potential in Europe
A new age is dawning in Europe, one that offers an opportunity to fully realize the power of biotechnology to ...
Ugandan farmers struggling with cassava viruses await GMO solution
Cassava is a major staple food for millions of people in the tropical regions of the world. In Uganda it ...
Can CRISPR and gene editing save our ‘devastated’ coral reefs?
Coral reefs have been devastated in recent decades by "bleaching" events caused by overheating oceans and other factors that kill off ...
‘Ecomodern Eating’: Why agricultural productivity and innovation are key to sustainable food and farming
Sunday, April 22nd, marked nearly 50 years since millions of people gathered for the first Earth Day. Their celebration raised awareness ...
Viewpoint: 8 things Vandana Shiva needs to know about US farmers and GMOs
In mid-April, famous anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva was paid nearly $20K by my hometown university to speak on campus. While I can appreciate her ...
Genetic engineering has ‘enormous potential’ to solve environmental problems in Africa, scientists say
[S]cientists and government officials, in a series of exclusive interviews with the Alliance for Science, opined that biotechnology is one ...
The ambitious effort to sequence the DNA of earth’s 1.5 million animals, plants and fungi
In what will undoubtedly be the largest genomic sequencing effort of all time, an international consortium of researchers is organizing ...
Viewpoint: David Suzuki’s views on GMOs ‘well outside the scientific mainstream’
Mr. Suzuki is known by most as a twinkly-eyed old sage with a harmless message about living in tune with ...
Agricultural biotechnologies that improved safety, yields, food security in developing nations
This is the third in a three-part series making the case that the development of the biotech traits for insect ...
Delving into the GMO traits that cut back pesticide impacts globally
This is the second in a three-part series making the case that the development of the biotech traits for insect ...
Let’s recognize Roundup Ready and Bt crops as major contributions to sustainable farming
This is the first in a three-part series making the case that the development of biotech traits for insect resistance ...
Climate change ready crops? Gene editing and other genomic advances show promise
Development of climate resilient crops with accelerating genetic gains in crops will require integration of different disciplines/technologies, to see the ...
Viewpoint: Examining the science denial behind IFOAM—Organics International
The true-believers in organic agriculture, such as the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM—Organics International), are as deluded as ...
Synthetic biology and viewing life not as ‘a mystery but as a machine’
Imagine a future where synthetic jellyfish roam waterways looking for toxins to destroy, where eco-friendly plastics and fuels are harvested from ...
Mozambique farmers hope drought-tolerant GMO seeds can help them adapt to changing climate
Natural disasters like extreme drought and floods are prevalent in Mozambique, and the country has experienced about 15 protracted droughts ...
How synthetic biology can help world meet UN sustainable development goals
The agenda of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenges the synthetic biology community—and the life sciences as a whole—to develop transformative ...
Viewpoint: Food companies’ ‘meaningless’ non-GMO labels insult farmers, threaten food sustainability
The conditions that will befall our food system require innovative solutions like those offered by biotechnology to ensure food security ...
Managed well, cattle feedlots can be the environmental and ethical smart choice
Although grass-fed is touted as the environmentally and ethically best choice for beef eaters, feedlots often outperform on both fronts ...
Plant ‘vaccines’, CRISPR gene editing could increase crop yields and reduce pesticide use
When European researchers recently announced a new technique that could potentially replace chemical pesticides with a natural “vaccine” for crops, ...
Regenerative agriculture: Can ‘carbon farming’ help battle climate change by improving soil health?
[Regenerative agriculture's] guiding principle is not just to farm sustainably — that implies mere maintenance of what might, after all, ...
First gene drive developed for crop pest targets invasive fruit fly that damages berries
Biologists at the University of California San Diego have developed a method of manipulating the genes of an agricultural pest ...
Agricultural tech startup Indigo uses microbes to improve crops
In humans, a healthy microbiome—the universe of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that lives inside all of us—is increasingly recognized as critical ...
Some in Germany’s Green Party reconsidering long-held opposition to GMOs and genetic engineering
Genetic engineering is the devil's tool of the agricultural industry, dangerous to health and the environment. Or so you could summarize the ...
Viewpoint: Why ‘organic’ should be redefined to include GMOs
The challenges of sustainable food production without damaging the environment for a growing human population have increased considerably. The current ...
