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?
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An alternative to harvesting environmentally-destructive palm oil? Here’s a biotech solution using soybeans
Plant-based synthetic biology continues to play a role in novel ingredient discovery, which ultimately helps alleviate global food chains from ...
Viewpoint: As Africa faces climate change and farming disruptions, biotechnology-driven innovation offers hope. Why is it not more widely adopted?
On June 9th 2022, persistent rainfall swept through Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous and smallest state. The downpour led to loss ...
Beyond the ‘yuck factor’: Precision fermentation of bacteria could dramatically soften environmental footprint of livestock-linked food production
Precision fermentation is a refined form of brewing, a means of multiplying microbes to create specific products. It has been ...
With demand for plastic expected to triple by 2050, here’s how biotechnology can reduce its environmental impacts
In theory, many commonly used plastics can be recycled. But only about one-tenth of the plastics that have ever been ...
Spanish biologist: ‘No evidence that organic diet better for health or organic farming better for the environment’
Do foods with an organic seal have benefits? The only thing they guarantee is that they have been grown according ...
Do we unfairly label ‘invasive species’? Conservationists debate whether their positive qualities suggest a rethink
A little over a decade ago, Jason Gleditsch was removing Asian honeysuckle when he noticed the birds. Robins and gray ...
‘We can’t simply innovate our way out of danger’: Can biotechnology and other innovations help soften the blow of climate change?
Can technology save us from the worst effects of climate change? Probably not, reports a new study, “Does Directed Innovation ...
How can US farmers adapt to climate change? Environmental Defense Fund offers five key options
Farmers have a long history of steadily increasing crop yields through technological innovation and improvements in management practices. However, as ...
Naturally saffron-flavored rice? Here’s how scientists are using genetically modified tobacco and lemon to recreate the world’s most expensive spice
Biotechnology mass-produces valuable molecules from nature, from drugs to textiles to a jellyfish protein that lights up most anything a ...
Viewpoint: ‘Farming is always unnatural’ — German farmers on why the EU needs to stop romanticizing agriculture and start embracing ‘intensive’ farming
We get too romantic about farming: “Nature is not gentle. Farming is always against nature. If you don’t do anything, ...
Agrivoltaics: With farm land scarce, solar panels can work in tandem with agriculture
Farmers installing solar panels on their land traditionally have kept their paneled acres separate from those containing their crops. But this ...
How to scale up lab-grown meat? Scientists ‘zap animal cells with a magnet’
Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have found a novel way of growing cell-based meat by zapping animal ...
Climate change: Gene editing can help create resilient crops
Experts say enhanced access to gene editing can help create resilient crops that respond appropriately to climate change. Some agricultural ...
‘Sustainable fondue’: Cattle and dairy farming produces billions of tons of CO2 each year. Here’s how climate-friendly lab-grown cheese can change that
Hi, I’m Will, and I have a cheese addiction. My partner regularly catches me swiping slices when I am cooking, ...
UN World Food Program Director: If we want to beat world hunger by 2030, we need ‘Big Ag’ and biotechnology
Ertharin Cousin has spent her entire life providing people with food: as a child of a restaurant owner couple in ...
Viewpoint: Climate-conscious diet? Tradeoffs are key as every way of eating has an environmental impact
For instance, I enjoy eating meat, and I also care about the environment. Are the two mutually exclusive? Can only ...
Podcast: BMI useless? Lab-grown meat a ‘pipe dream;’ Did early humans eat each other?
Using body mass index (BMI) to assess a patient's health may yield misleading results and undermine public trust in medicine, ...
Slaughter-free, climate-friendly cultured meat on the horizon
Imagine a way to produce meat without slaughtering animals. Instead of raising livestock on farms, Uma Valeti, a cardiologist, and ...
Taking as many as 209 million cars off the road: How genetically modified (GM) crops have reduced global agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions
Crop biotechnology has significantly reduced agriculture’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by helping farmers adopt more sustainable practices such as reduced ...
‘A holy grail for agriculture’? Genetic modification can increase oil production in soy, sunflower and peanut plants by up to 18%
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have successfully genetically modified a plant protein that is responsible for oil ...
Onslaught of droughts and war soften EU opposition to crop gene editing
When GMO technology first arrived in Europe in the 2000s it met fierce opposition in a region that prides itself ...
Genetically modified crops and sustainability: 25 years since their widespread introduction, yields are higher and the environmental footprint is smaller
Genetically modified (GM) crops have increased global food, feed and fiber production by nearly 1 billion tonnes (1 tonne equals ...
Here’s the background on India’s newly-approved high-yielding genetically modified mustard
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s apex regulator of genetically modified plants and food products, has approved the environmental ...
Some Kenyans eager to embrace GM crops to fight escalating drought, but opposition remains
As Kenya prepares to commercialise genetically modified crops, there is resistance from some farmers and campaign groups, who question their ...
7 ways CRISPR gene editing could transform food
Here are some of the ways scientists are using CRISPR to create healthier, more appealing, and more resilient foods — ...
Podcast: How lab-grown fish can save Alaska’s threatened wild salmon stocks
Although wild salmon remains one of Alaska’s most lucrative seafood industries, it’s also one of the state’s most vulnerable, as ...
Are biotechnology and sustainability compatible in Africa?
Advancements in digital technology are beginning to reshape agriculture. The right combination of technology and processes allow farmers to apply ...
