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.
Could Bioimimicry solve global hunger?
Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature for inspiratioin order to solve human problems. The latest wave of biomimicry ...
Are biorefineries the future?
I caught an interesting report last week by John Licata, founder of Blue Phoenix Inc. via CME Group in a ...
Mexico: Biotechnology is important for increasing yields and reducing pesticide usage, says report
The Confederation of Mexican Cotton Association (CMCA) believes that biotechnology is an important tool in increasing yields and reducing pesticide ...
Food labeling: Should environmentalists be pro-GM?
Half a century on from Rachel Carson’s seminal Silent Spring, debate rages over GM food labeling proposals ...
Futurist envisions aquaculture and GMOs to feed the planet
It’s been said that, when it comes to the future of food, thought falls along one of two paths. There’s ...
Genetic engineering: Is it a a food fix or does it cause more problems?
Genetically engineered (GE) crops are often discussed as the way to feed the world’s growing populations and to mitigate the ...
Organic myth: No evidence that expensive ‘natural’ foods are healthier or better for the environment
There is remarkably little difference in nutritional value or risk for bacterial contamination between more expensive organic and conventional foods ...
In the European Union, there is a call for “evidence, not emotion” on GM foods
Professor Anne Glover said Europe could only achieve sustainable intensification if we become more open-minded. “What we do now will ...
Discovery of plant gene lays groundwork for improved biofuel processing
Since 2007, researchers at the BioEnergy Science Center, one of three U.S. Department of Energy-funded research centers, have partnered to ...
Genetically engineered algae for biofuel could pose potential risks
Algae are high on the genetic engineering agenda as a potential source for biofuel, and they should be subjected to ...
Investment goes into new bioenergy crop research
A $1.37 million (€1.1 million) grant is set to allow researchers to study and potentially develop shrub willow as a ...
Human-assisted evolution to help animals survive a human-dominated age
UK-based photographer Vincent Fournier collaborated with scientists to create his digitally enhanced photographs of genetically modified animals better suited to ...
Could genetically modified seeds be a drought solution?
Could genetically modified seeds be a drought solution? While farmers across the country struggle with the worst drought in 50 ...
Seeking hardier breeds for drought, climate change
Cattle are being bred with genes from their African cousins who are accustomed to hot weather. New corn varieties are ...
Willow could be a promising bioenergy crop
The commercialization of shrub willow as a bioenergy crop could be years closer, thanks to a $1.37 million grant that ...
Would Rachel Carson embrace ‘frankenfoods’? Scientist believes ‘yes’
The ‘Frankenfoods’ debate is coming to your dinner table. This debate is particularly poignant because fifty years ago this September, ...
High hopes for drought-resistant corn
The United States is having one of the worst droughts recorded in over 50 years. More than three-quarters of U.S ...
Can genetics improve ethanol production?
A California company with a stake owned by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln announced it has discovered a yeast gene that ...
Newly found genes may lead to nematode-resistant cotton
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers have made significant progress in finding genetic resistance to two key cotton pests—the root-knot ...
China: Australia can feed our “dining boom” with GM crops
The Australian government’s first national food strategy underscores what agricultural scientists have been saying for the past decade – that ...
Salt cress genome yields new clues to salt tolerance
An international team, led by Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, and BGI, the world's largest ...
A greener way to raise cotton and combat nematodes
Richard Davis, a plant pathologist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Tifton, Ga., and his colleagues are hunting for ...
Banana genome sequence will aid crop improvement
Scientists have sequenced the complete genome of the banana, an important crop in developing countries that provides a fruit widely ...
Can biotechnology solve China’s food security problem?
When talking about agriculture in China, you are likely hear two statistics over and over again: China is home to ...
Projecting agricultural impacts of climate change, can GM crops help?
In a summer like this, as we watch crop conditions wither in record-setting heat and dry conditions, we might wonder ...
“Agent Orange Corn”: NGOs skirt science, liken Dow’s new seed to Vietnam era pesticide
Researchers have developed a new variety of biotech corn that carries a natural resistance to the herbicide 2,4-D. Some NGOs ...
Beets root of fuel source
A biofuel company hopes plots of high-sugar “energy beets” will fuel an ethanol project ...
