and irrigation for agriculture to the prevention of icing and frosting on aircraft wings.""This represents a fundamentally new concept in engineered surfaces,
Graphene, roughly 200 times stronger than steel by weight, is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern.
Graphene, roughly 200 times stronger than steel by weight, is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern.
Phosphonates are an abundant and diverse class of natural signaling molecules that have already proved useful to medicine and agriculture
Honeycomb of nanomagnets The magnets are only 63 nanometres long and shaped roughly like grains of rice.
The researchers used a highly advanced technique to place 1 billion of these tiny grains on a flat substrate to form a large-scale honeycomb pattern.
which could have applications such as spraying on crops or disinfecting food, as well as treating human disease.
so groundbreaking is that these genetic modifications look just like genetic variations resulting from the selective breeding that farmers have been doing for millennia.
which Jin-Soo Kim points out,"paves the way for the widespread use of RNA-guided genome editing in plant biotechnology and agriculture."
Large agribusiness companies have been able to afford the time and money necessary to create seeds for genetically modified food,
and create heartier crops in foods like tomatoes and lettuce. The application of the Cas9 RNP gene editing technique could be the next step in ending food shortages s
Finally, Brazilian beef and soybean production were rising during much of the same time when deforestation was falling.
the government used its controls of state banks to deter agriculture and logging use of forests.
Mato grosso, for example, is a far bigger soybean producer than the other two states. The other is that there are differences in policy
leaves harvest solar energy and carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of molecular products that form biomass,
nanowires harvest solar energy and deliver electrons to bacteria, where carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of a variety of targeted, value-added chemical products.
and is a $6 billion crop in the United states. here is untapped a vast reservoir of genes in wild cotton plants that could offer us stronger
Borage family flowers (Echium angustifolium) as seen in human vision (left) and honeybee vision (right. To humans the flowers are a fairly uniform purple,
The researchers have provided specific data on camera settings for commonly studied animals, such as humans, blue tits, peafowl, honey bees, ferrets and some fish.
Instead, silicon nanopillars are arranged precisely into a honeycomb pattern to create a etasurfacethat can control the paths and properties of passing light waves.
and heat waves. eat waves can kill people and crops while worsening air quality, and droughts exacerbate those serious impacts,
#Breeding higher yielding crops by increasing sugar import into seeds Once a mother plant releases its embryos to the outside world,
A team of scientists led by Carnegie Wolf Frommer has discovered now that a sugar-transport protein in maize
crop plants have evolved larger backpacks to ensure continued utility to humans. Without knowing which gene variants were contributing useful properties,
which happened with all of our crop plants as wild plants were converted into more and more useful and nutritious versions.
The ancestors of the modern maize planted today across large acreages in the U s . and worldwide had much smaller endosperms.
more sugar-filled seeds such as maize kernels were more attractive to human cultivators, due to their nutritive value and their ability to produce sturdier seedlings.
Frommer team analyzed maize genes involved in sugar-related processes to find ones that were seed urned onduring development.
which encodes a sugar transporter protein in maize, was shown to be expressed specifically in the maize seed by the group of Prem Chourey at University of Florida,
and had evidence of selection due to domestication. The evidence that the SWEET4C gene was selected during domestication was discovered by the team of Jeff Ross-Ibarra at UC Davis,
while comparing SWEET4 sequences from modern maize against its wild ancestor Teosinte. If variation of the sequence of a specific gene is reduced greatly in modern versions
between 10 and 17 days after the seed is pollinated. e believe that as early farmers selected larger seeds to eat and plant,
Gratifyingly, the importance of the study goes beyond maize yield. The authors found that the corresponding gene in rice was also critical for seed filling
and showed independent signs of selection by farmers and breeders. ur work indicates that SWEET4 could be a promising target for engineering varieties of maize,
rice and other crops, said Bing Yang from Iowa State university, whose team performed all the rice studies.
When scientists develop a new drug, they need to work with the pharmaceutical industry to perform extensive tests to ultimately bring it to the consumers.
based in Foothill Ranch, California, said in early August that it has succeeded in keeping a high-energy plasma stable for five millisecondsuch less than the blink of an eye,
The depth of the openings varies in each slice of honeycomb, meaning sound passing over each section has a unique pattern. he cavities behave like soda bottles
which resembles a crushed honeycomb. The shoes are the first illustration of a new method of weaving in three dimensions created by Nigerian American industrial designer Oluwaseyi Sosanya.
#Weather history time machine created During the 1930s North america endured the Dust bowl a prolonged era of dryness that withered crops
flows in agriculture A quantitative model for measuring sustainability in the Finnish agricultural sector has been developed in a new thesis. The new model challenges the OECD method which is used currently
Improvements for OECD nutrient balance modelcurrently the static nutrient balance approach of OECD is used to assess nutrient emissions from agriculture.
The stocks and outflows from the stock calculated using the dynamic model could be utilized in sustainability assessment as indicators of environmental pressure from agriculture.
Our dynamic approach would provide better estimations of the nutrient leaching from agriculture to environment than the conventional method of OECD. Story Source:
and the U s. Microsporidia are a large group of extreme parasites that invade humans and animals and cost great damage for health care systems and in agriculture;
and biofuels too by providing information for land managers farmers conservationists and policy makers as the bioenergy industry ramps up particularly in Wisconsin and the central U s as bioenergy production demand increases we should pay attention to the ecological consequences says Turner.
Among the grasslands studied the team found monoculture grasses supported fewer birds and fewer bird species than grasslands with a mix of grass types and other kinds of vegetation like wildflowers...
By nurturing watermelon seeds to maturity inside cube-shaped glass boxes Japanese farmers create cube-shaped mature melons that allow for densely-packed shipping and storage of the fruit.
This year's spring pulse held less than 1 percent of the volume of the Colorado's annual spring floods before the construction of ten major dams and diversions to municipalities, industry, and agriculture.
#An innovative way to increase flower, seed and fruit production A scientist from UPM has developed a method to enhance crop yield by the contact of roots aerial parts or even the substratum of the plant fungus'Colletotrichum tofieldiae'.
Within the agriculture sector the Colletotrichum fungi are well known because they have a large amount of crop pathogen.
However this species has other subspecies that does not harm their host plants and they actually have many benefits.
This method can help increase crop yields its application is similar to use a fertilizer but having better results
Thus its application in agriculture horticulture forestry plants ornamental plants or any other plant with commercial interest would represent a significant environmental and economic saving.
The biochar has a one-two punch in that it can be used to both increase crop yields
#Horticulture: Sensor-based irrigation systems show potential to increase greenhouse profitability Wireless sensor-based irrigation systems can offer significant benefits to greenhouse operators.
Advances in sensor technology and increased understanding of plant physiology have made it possible for greenhouse growers to use water content sensors to accurately determine irrigation timing and application rates in soilless substrates.
The wireless sensor systems provide more accurate measurements of substrate moisture than qualitative methods and can save irrigation water labor energy and fertilizer.
The authors of a report published in Horttechnology said that the use of sensor-based irrigation technology can also accelerate container and greenhouse plant production time.
The scientists found that controlling irrigation using data from moisture sensors led to substantial reductions in both production time and crop losses.
"Human activities such as agriculture, fossil fuel combustion, wastewater management and industrial processes are increasing the amount of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.
Local farmers will use the system and provide feedback at a conference organized by Jain Irrigation,
such as the ranches in New mexico where she tested her system at full scale, poor access to water pipelines often leads to a heavy reliance on well water.
But some ranchers find that even their livestock won tolerate the saltiness of this water. t useful to install a small-scale desalination system where people are
Last week, at the Symposia on VLSI Technology And circuits, MIT researchers presented a new power converter chip that can harvest more than 80 percent of the energy trickling into it,
#Argentine greenhouse robot brings automation to the masses BUENOS AIRES--The new Trakür agricultural robot does not have the brains, firepower or complexity of one of the Transformers,
for its Spanish initials) to promote automation in Argentine greenhouse agrobusiness. Designed to apply pesticides in greenhouses,
the Trakür is meant to increase production of vegetables and flowers while protecting farm workers--who in the past would apply pesticides by hand--from the toxicity of the chemicals."
"When one applies these chemicals in a confined environment like a greenhouse, one likelihood of intoxication increases notably,
In an economy as heavily dependent on agriculture as Argentina's, boosting production and protecting workers are vitally important.
Designed for small farmers who, because of Argentina's regular economic collapses, are not eager or able to make large investments,
Thus, the Trakür could make farm automation possible not only for small farmers in Argentina but also for those in developing countries around the globe.
Greenhouse robots are generally small wheeled vehicles that carry a tank of pesticide, a sprayer to distribute the liquid,
and the amount of remaining chemical to a computer outside the greenhouse, where an operator directs the Trakür virtually.
A GPS SYSTEM with differential correction would cost an Argentine farmer about $10 000, Masiá said,
#Where the bio-rubber meets the road My posts about biotechnology as it relates to agriculture tend to draw impassioned naysayers,
which is selling technology that its founder first put to the test in Turkish greenhouses,
is piloting an environmental monitoring system that helps agribusiness concerns be smarter about how much water they use.
-or solar-powered sensors that are distributed in a greenhouse or field. These sensors connect to backend servers that process the data collected,
So, for example, a farmer could monitor conditions for his or her field using a mobile phone,
Information that is collected includes temperature, humidity, and soil nutrients. The solution was developed by Bulut Ersavas, a former electronics engineer with IBM and Sun who got the idea for a water-monitoring system
and usually require someone to monitor the soil on an ad hoc basis. Growflex can help farmers watering patterns based on other ambient factors,
such as the nature of the soil, the nature of the crop involved or weather. The system is currently being tested at Norcal Harvesting,
since about 2005 in hundred of installations in Turkey focused on growing greenhouse tomatoes. Those systems were sold by Climateminder's predecessor corporation,
vice president of business development for Climateminder, said the company will target its technology at farms in prime California agribusiness districts such as Oxnard, Salinas and Watsonville.
But if this material gets put in your garden or on the side of the road, it starts breaking down like a seed husk within three months to a year.
You really have to put them in your garden, in the environment for them to start biodegrading.
Elevated radiation levels widespread in eastern Japan Test show Japanese child exposed to radiation Rice crops threatened by radiation Radioactive tuna found in Pacific ocean Hydrofracking drives new water treatment solutions
Palm oil-105g Soybean-103g Rapeseed-95g Sunflower-86g Palm oil with methane capture-83g Wheat (process fuel not specified)- 64g Wheat (as process fuel natural gas used in CHP)- 47g
Corn (Maize)- 43g Sugar cane-36g Sugar beet-34g Wheat (straw as process fuel in CHP plants)- 35g 2g Ethanol (land-using)- 32g 2g Biodiesel (land-using)- 21g 2g Ethanol
The top biodiesel crops--palm soybean, and rapeseed oil--are all the least energy efficient. However, they are also the cheapest to produce,
which is why they reign at the moment. Photo: Achmad Rabin Taim/Flickr via Nature News s
whose recent barrage of diversity reports have revealed their tendencies toward monoculture, for instance. Another key item that was revealed by journalists reporting on the Sony leak was that of Hollywood war against Google,
and keeps the negotiation within Amazon walled garden rather than being taken offline, where Amazon would get no commission,
explains Matt Burton, founder of Orchard. Orchard, a Canaan portfolio company launched last year to simplify online direct lending at scale,
and currently powers seven investment platforms, including Lending Club, Prosper, and Ondeck. Burton says there are 450 more currently on their wait list. his is an area that going to continue to see a lot of innovation and disruption for the next few years minimum,
Farmers are increasingly using drones to monitor crop health and gauge growth patterns. This is a job well-suited to drones,
and hardware that automatically measures the height of crops and detect weeds, and they can even count plants.
via the first crop of Homekit-enabled accessories from third-party manufacturers. This means youl soon be able to get your hands on a range of products for the connected home that work with Siri on your ios device,
and this crop of initial partners delivers that. It interesting to see Apple announce this ahead of WWDC
the readings it takes are more scientifically rigorous than those achieved by the current crop of Android Wear-powered devices,
a reminder that the region was prized once land for orchards. A handful of new two-story concrete buildings surround a courtyard holding a smattering of enthusiastic administrators and a few teachers.
Researchers have completed the second of three major steps needed to turbocharge photosynthesis in crops such as wheat
Researchers at Cornell University and Rothamsted Research in the United kingdom successfully transplanted genes from a type of bacteria-called cyanobacteria-into tobacco plants
But 75 percent of the world's crops (known as C3 plants) use a slower and less efficient form of photosynthesis. Researchers have been attempting for a long time to change some C3 plants-including wheat rice and potatoes-into C4 plants.
However Price says there are genetic workarounds that could quickly make it possible in a wider range of crops s
#A Nimble-Wheeled Farm Robot Goes to Work in Minnesota This summer a Minnesota startup began deploying an autonomous robot that rolls between corn plants spraying crop fertilizer.
and new airborne drones are providing farmers with high-resolution sensing ability (see gricultural Drones, although drone services can yet be offered commercially in the United states. Mike Schmitt, a professor in the Department of Soil, Water,
The company is also testing using them for planting seed on cornfields for fall crops, called cover crops,
If there s one area where resource optimization is needed more urgently than any other it s agriculture Projections call for the Earth s population to exceed nine billion by 2050 up by about two billion from today.
because it is sprayed heavily on crops that had themselves been engineered genetically to resist the spray.
Also, the technology could be used to create weapons that destroy agricultural crops or create super pests.
#How LEDS Are Set to Revolutionize Hi-tech Greenhouse Farming It won't come as a surprise to discover that consumers all over the developed world are increasingly demanding seasonal vegetables all year round even
Which is why greenhouse farming has become a major factor in the food supply of the developed world.
Consequently the number of commercial greenhouses and the area they occupy is rocketing. In The netherlands for example greenhouses occupy around 0. 25 percent of the land area of the entire country.
And The netherlands isn t even the largest producer of greenhouse vegetables in Europe. That position is held by Spain.
And the largest producer of greenhouse vegetables in the world is now China. This kind of farming has a significant impact on the environment.
Commercial greenhouses have to be lit and heated in a way that optimizes growth. And up to 35 percent of the cost of greenhouse tomatoes comes from this heating and lighting.
So an important question is how to minimize the energy it takes to grow these crops.
One obvious answer is to convert greenhouses from the traditional incandescent lighting usually high pressure sodium lamps to more energy-efficient LEDS.
That might seem like an economic no-brainer but the industry has been slow to make this change because of the high initial cost of LEDS.
The question that farmers have pondered over is whether they will ever recoup the upfront cost of a brand-new system of lighting.
Today they get an answer thanks to the work of Devesh Singh and pals at the Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies at the University of Hannover in Germany.
These guys have compared the life-cycle costs of traditional high pressure sodium lamps against those of LEDS for greenhouse lighting.
For the moment the strategy for greenhouse farmers seems clear: convert to LED lighting as quickly as possible.
Greenhouses allow for a wider variety of fruit and vegetable for a given climate. LEDS give farmers greater flexibility at a lower cost and a smaller environmental footprint.
These are surely goals worth aiming for r
#Digital Summit: Microsoft s Quantum Search for The next Transistor Microsoft is making a significant investment in creating a practical version of the basic component needed to build a quantum computer,
Micha Benoliel CEO and cofounder of startup Open Garden which made Firechat says the app shows how smartphones can be set free from cellular networks.
However Open Garden s forthcoming software will extend the feature so that data can hop between two iphones out of range of one another via intermediary devices.
For example messages sent using Firechat to nearby devices don t pass through any systems operated by either Open Garden
Open Garden s main product is an app that allows Android devices to share their Internet connections (see Could You Spare Some Internet access?.
normally a small transparent plate resembling a honeycomb with 96 tiny wells. Specific antibodies are placed then into each well,
ELISA testing is performed usually with little honeycomb shaped plates that have 96 tiny wells embedded in them.
We may be able to design materials that mimic nature's machinery to harvest solar energy, or manipulate light for telecommunications applications,
a single layer of carbon atoms is arranged in the form of a honeycomb structure. Its highly versatile nature makes it applicable for use in numerous electronics gadgets such as wearables, flexible displays and other sophisticated electronic devices."
#Saturas Successfully Conducts Field trials of Embedded Stem Water Sensor The field tests were conducted on peach and citrus trees at the Hula Valley Orchards Experimental Farm.
Today most farmers typically overwater crops by up to 20%just to be on the safe side.
Optimal irrigation can improve quality and quantity of crops and increase farmers incomes and profitability.
SWP is recognized a scientifically highly accurate parameter for determining water status in crops but today SWP can only be measured in a labor-intensive procedure.
The Saturas sensor provides accurate information for optimized irrigation to reduce water consumption with no stress to the plants and increases fruit production and quality.
Saturas'precision agriculture sensing system comprises of miniature implanted sensors wireless transponders and delivery of information to the farmer's Internet device:
The Saturas sensing system tailors irrigation to the crop's real-time water needs resulting in more efficient water use
and efficient industrial product to achieve a precise irrigation tool for farmers worldwide. Source: http://trendlines. com/portfolio/saturas s
#New MIT Power Converter Chip Harvests More than 80%of Energy Realizing that vision, however, will require extremely low-power sensors that can run for months without battery changes or, even better,
Last week, at the Symposia on VLSI Technology And circuits, MIT researchers presented a new power converter chip that can harvest more than 80 percent of the energy trickling into it,
The information companies harvest can become new products that they sell or can be combined with how they market other new products.
But in some villages, fires had destroyed even existing oil palm trees that belonged to multinational companies or local farmers.
coupled with the fire destroying their oil palm crops, had left them penniless and hungry. Until that moment, he had thought mostly of peat blazes as orest fires,
a farmer in the Riau village of Bungaraya. We were sitting in Riau, at a roadside café flanked by oil palm trees.
Tarsedi told me that oil palm is the crop of choice for Bungaraya farmers because it is more valuable than paddy rice.
typically earns a farmer around 48 million Indonesian rupiah (nearly US$4, 000) per year instead of 40 million rupiah a year for rice.
And they affect both corporate plantations and smallholder farmers. f a fire happens and we can control it,
wel report it, said Maman, a Bungaraya farmer. But sometimes, even helicopters are powerless to stop the burning, he added. nd during the really bad fires,
a lot of the kids cough and end up at the clinic with health problems. In 2009, Indonesia passed a law banning fires on peat plantations.
Farmers in Bungaraya told me that, as a result, they had started to clear peat bogs manually,
without using fire. But Tarsedi said manual clearance is more labour-intensive and requires extra fertilisers.
requires extra time and money that most farmers don want to part with. When the wind blows from the west
but it requires a poppy harvest to manufacture. Brewed morphine could, eventually, be easier to produce.
#Sweet source for aviation biofuel Researchers have identified a new way to produce aviation fuel from sugarcane biomass that could deliver substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
The source crops could be grown on marginal land, avoiding displacing food production, the team observed. They added the development of renewable liquid fuels was critical to reduce global reliance on petroleum
Biofuel sweetspot"We've identified a new route of chemistry with its source from sugars in sugarcane plus some of the so-called waste material called bagasse"
Prof Bell acknowledged that certain crops as feedstock for the sugar-derived process would be problematic:"
"If, for example, we were to use sugar beet instead of sugarcane then there would be a potential conflict over fuel versus food."
"By using sugarcane, particularly in Brazil, on land that is not used for agriculture, we escape that conundrum."
"But we are talking about the Amazon basin, and one of the issues there is that if you cleared the land of scrubs
-in order to make it available for growing sugar plantations, and you get rid of that vegetation by burning it then you are putting a big pulse of CO2 into the atmosphere."
and hoped in time it would improve his vision sufficiently to help him with day-to-day tasks like gardening and shopping.
and although I was a keen gardener, I can't tell the weeds from the flowers anymore."
said Warren Ruder, an assistant professor of biological systems engineering in both the College of Agriculture and Life sciences and the College of Engineering."
In agriculture, bacteria-robot model systems could enable robust studies that explore the interactions between soil bacteria and livestock.
leishmaniasis is common in people who work in agriculture and forestry, said lead author Vanessa Adaui, Ph d,
Traditional ELISA testing is performed with small transparent plates that resemble honeycombs, typically with 96 tiny wells. Samples are placed in the wells first,
John Burnett writes for West Hawaii Today that Iselle damage to Big Island ag crops is estimated at $53 million.
and State departments of Agriculture and state Board of Agriculture Chairman Scott Enright met Monday with farmers.
It was pretty clear to us that the papaya farmers took the highest amount of damage.
of course, but the damage is extremely high. t takes about a year from the time you plant to the time you start to harvest.
The farmers went through a tough spot about a year ago, fighting disease. They got their crops to where they were ready to pick.
The plants are snapped off, not too high off the ground, but right to where the fruit column started to bear,
Ha said a real problem that will hinder papaya farmers in their recovery is most don have credit.
and theye banking everything on two years of harvest. And everything looked good until the wind came through.
because it is grown at a higher elevation than the papaya crop. Ross Sibucao, president of Hawaii Papaya Industry Association, said early Tuesday afternoon the association board was about to hold an emergency meeting.
And it not just Puna farmers who sustained damage from Iselle winds and rain. Ka coffee and macadamia nut growers have been impacted
as well. e had a USDA (Farm Service agency) meeting (Tuesday) morning down here with some of the farmers.
Stevens said, o some of the smaller farmers, 100 to 200 trees is huge damage,
which we hosted for the smaller farmers, he said. e probably don qualify for any type of aid,
and the rain also damaged the company macadamia nut crop. Wee lost just over 2, 000 trees,
the most beautiful trees Hawaii has seen ever. hat means I lost more 22 percent of my trees in that orchard.
newest orchard in the state of Hawaii, and Ed Olson effort at revitalizing the macadamia nut industry for the future by planting new orchards. n our older orchard,
which cover about 425 acres, we lost about 800 trees, Cross added. heye older trees;
I only lost about 3 to 4 percent in those older orchards. Anthurium and ornamental flower growers in East Hawaii are also feeling Iselle effects,
He said three of his four 5-acre greenhouses in Panaewa sustained roof damage which will ultimately have an effect on his crops.
he said. ee trying to call a meeting where all the farmers and ranchers can get accurate information on the process we can use to follow to get some help for our farmers and ranchers. n
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