but nothing compares to buying a tomato picked ripe from the vine. When you buy produce from a grocery store it may have spent as much as a week in transit.
or fresh evergreens for decoration borrow a few small cut branches and try this experiment. You could also try using cut flowers such as carnations.
Prepare the solutions Be sure to label your jars: Prepare the test samples make sure to label them!
#What's the Cultural Significance of Cherry Blossoms? In 1912 Japan gave more than 3000 cherry-blossom trees to the United states as a gift to honor the growing bond between the two countries.
Now the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D c. commemorates this century-old offering of goodwill when the trees bloom each spring.
But what is the cultural significance of cherry blossoms to Japan? Similar to Washington D c. Japan has a yearly flower-viewing celebration called hanami where thousands of people hold feasts under blooming cherry-blossom trees or sakura.
This tradition is over a thousand years old. In Japan cherry blossoms also symbolize the transience of life which is a major theme in Buddhism.
The cherry-blossom tree is known for its short but brilliant blooming season a natural process that metaphorically describes human life.
Additionally cherry blossoms have held long significance to Japanese nationalism and militarism anthropologist Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney wrote in her book Kamikaze Cherry Blossoms and Nationalisms:
The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History (University Of Chicago Press 2002. A fallen cherry blossom symbolizes a fallen samurai who sacrificed his life for the emperor.
During WORLD WAR II the flowers took on a similar meaning when they were painted on the side of kamikaze warplanes.
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#Where Did Potatoes Come From? The potato is an immigrant coming from the Andes mountains in South america or by some accounts possibly from the western coast of Chile.
#Where's My Flower? Diesel Throws Honeybees Off the Trail Diesel pollution snuffs out floral odors interfering with honeybees'ability to find
and pollinate flowers new research suggests. Honeybees use both visual and olfactory cues to recognize flowersâ that produce nectar in return for insect pollination.
Not all flowers produce nectar and bees avoid those that don't by learning to recognize the odors of nectar-bearing flowers.
whether nitrogen oxides a group of highly reactive gases released by diesel combustion are capable of altering floral odors to an extent that would dampen a bee's ability to recognize desirable flowers.
 So the scientists produced a synthetic floral odor from a blend of eight volatiles that closely matched those found in oilseed rape flowers.
and that these new findings should provide further impetus to reduce diesel emissions said study co-author Guy Poppy.
How Positive Outlook Can Transform Our Heath and Aging which discusses the relationship between optimism and health.
Most grain contains inedible chaff (fed to animals) bran (the oil-rich outer layer) germ (the grain seed's nutrient-rich embryo) and the endosperm (the starchy center.
Refined white flour contains only endosperm. The FDA definition of whole grain allows for grain to be milled
I'd put oats rye and barley at the top of the list and corn at the bottom.
#Why a Cold Spring Delays Cherry Blossom Blooming It's been a dull spring for cherry blossom watchers so far.
Blossoms in Philadelphia did not open until early April. Usually the flowers appear anywhere from mid-to late March.
Festivals in New york and Washington are experiencing a similar delay due to the ongoing cold and wet spring.
when they bloom and it's driven totally by warmth said Paul Meyer executive director of the Morris Arboretum at the University of Pennsylvania.
This means that in a single city different cherry trees will flower at different times. Those that are downtown tend to flower earlier than suburban trees there's more pavement downtown
which creates an urban island heating effect when the sun heats the ground up. Also plants on the south side of a building tend to bloom earlier than those on the north side
because the south siders receive more sunlight. Given the variability it's always a challenge in scheduling cherry blossom festivals Meyer said.
Images: Stages of Cherry Blossom Blooming Longer blooms Flowers like all biological processes are driven by chemistry.
One chemical rule of thumb true in most cases but not always is that for every 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) increase in temperature the amount of chemical reaction taking place say in a plant
This increase in chemistry makes the flowers bloom. During the winter the closed cherry buds can tolerate below-freezing temperatures Meyer said.
So the lingering cold is a signal to the blossoms to stay closed for a while longer as the reactions that will make them bloom aren't yet humming along.
longer-lasting blooms. If exposed to high temperatures say in the 60s or 70s a flower will bloom quickly
and then disappear within four to five days. However a prolonged colder temperature will cause the flowers to slow their blooms making them last between seven and 10 days Meyer said.
Cherry plants are pretty short-lived for trees typically living around 40 or 50 years. Their longevity however depends on the species. There are some types in Japan that have been bred to last more than a century.
Accounts of that day which became known as New england's Dark Day include mentions of midday meals by candlelight night birds coming out to sing flowers folding their petals and strange behavior from animals.
and heat goes through the bark killing the living tissue. A couple of years later the bark falls off revealing the wood and an injury to the tree.
When looking at the rings you see charcoal formation on the outside and a resin formation on the top that creates a dark spot said Richard Guyette director of the Tree Ring Lab at the University of Missouri.
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Over time though the effect of climate change on forest fires becomes more complex Fulã told Livescience.
In some regions the climate will become more arid resulting in less vegetation in forests with the end result being less fuel.
Changing temperatures might also influence what vegetation returns after a fire some forests may never come back.
Climate change could dampen fall foliage by delaying the season bleaching out red tones and ushering in invasive species Neufeld told Livescience.
With 25 states across the country from the Midwest to New england to the Piedmont claiming significant autumn tourism seasons Neufeld estimates leaf peepers generate about $25 billion a year.
The Rich Colors of Fall Foliage And the shrinking of a seasonal tradition could stand as another climate warning a (dull-colored) canary in the coal mine Neufeld said.
and temperature when moving toward leaf senescence the process that produces fall color. Warmer fall days will make trees delay this process Neufeld said.
however a later fall start might not do much harm to the leaf-peeping season as global warming could also delay the frost
For one thing climate change will likely alter the suitable habitat for many of the trees that bring fall color particularly New england's prized sugar maples one of the most important contributors to fall foliage O'Keefe said.
or send it to the twigs Neufeld said. That means the trees won't use that sugar to make red pigments.
and fungi into new regions invasive species could have even more dramatic effects on fall trees Neufeld said.
A warming planet could have a host of other effects on fall foliage too he said.
In the meantime leaf-peeping season looks strong for 2013. We're hearing that advance bookings are looking very positive Ouellette said.
Carving vegetables into scary faces then lighting them is an odd kind of custom that just must have interesting roots.
 This harm results not just from changing temperature but stem indirectly from climate impacts on elk small predators and even the forest the birds inhabit.
So when elk hang around in the canyons all year it s harder for young saplings of these deciduous trees to grow large enough to then produce their own seedlings.
The Dutch Agricultural Development and Trading Company for example developed a technology that brings a mobile cassava processing plant to villages enabling farmers in Mozambique to process their roots into cassava cakes that can be stored for up to two years.
Members of the National Trust (a British conservation group) discovered the young buck two weeks ago after the sheep had been moved onto a nature preserve northeast of London at Dunwich Heath according to the BBC.
although it may have to do with changes in forest management that have allowed dense underbrush to grow as well as increased urban development.
So sugar-cane plantation owners brought over a group of mongooses to control the rat population. But nobody knew that the mongoose generally hunts during the day
Living and dead vegetation make up the fuel that burns in a wildland fire. Warmer and drier conditions make present-day fuels such as forests more likely to burn
Also the total amount of vegetation isn't the only important factor because many species will shift ranges.
Feedbacks between disturbances such as fire and the uncertainty of what vegetation will come in afterwards compound the difficulty of predicting future patterns.
Researchers attempting the difficult task of linking models of climate vegetation and fire at global scales an exercise called pyrogeography are finding not only high variability between models but sometimes not even agreement on overall trends.
Third when wildland managers compare alternative management options they should routinely apply models linking climate vegetation and fire.
and xate (an ornamental palm frond) benefiting close to 5000 local people. The threat of deforestation looms Such communities in Guatemala deserve credit for pursuing sustainable forestry
when cleared for cattle oil palm soy or pulp production. And this pressure is only increasing with population growth and global demand for agricultural commodities.
which in turn limits how many berry-producing shrubs the elks consume. As a result the bears have more tasty berries to eat finds a study published today (July 29) in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
and shrub recovery and restore ecosystem health. Wolves were removed first from Yellowstone national park in the 1920s after
and willow in the park and reduced the berry-producing shrubs. Past studies showed the reintroduction of wolves in 1995 has led to willow
The grizzlies love to graze on the park's many wild berry species such as serviceberry chokecherry buffaloberry twinberry and huckleberry.
and encourages more fungal growth such as mold and the release of spores. Â We will be paying a wretched price in the coming months for the behavior fueling the explosion of pollen
which are the tiny reproductive cells found in trees weeds plants and grasses. Â By all accounts there will be more pollen this year than ever before.
Ragweed makes its pollen in the late summer and early fall. And pollen production is only part of the impact that global warming is going to have on allergies and asthma and our health overall.
and bites can provoke fatal allergic reactions in sensitive individuals as well as the proliferation of such vines as poison ivy.
Poison ivy thrives with increased carbon dioxide and as a result now makes a far more potent urushiol the oil that causes poison-ivy-triggered rashes than in the past. 8 Ways Global Warming Is Already Changing the World Current evidence also suggests that climate change will increase the concentration of ground-level ozone particularly in Northeastern
Midwestern and Western cities causing an increase in respiratory diseases. In short if you have allergies or asthma climate change is going to make you a lot sicker now and in the coming years.
Frost wasn't occurring as early as it used to so ragweed was pollinating later.''
They say kelp gulls at Peninsula Valdes land on the backs of the cetaceans to eat their skin and blubber.
Theft and murder of native peoples resulted in the Mariposa Indian War which ended in 1851.
Nine years later President Lincoln named Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove as the country s first public preserve.
Bears deer foxes bald eagles raccoons and more may be seen amidst the wildflowers and lush grasses. The most popular meadows which have boardwalks
Giant sequoias and Mariposa Grove: Mariposa Grove is blessed with about 500 mature giant sequoias. Giant sequoias can live to be 3000 years old
and are known the largest living things on earth. Visitors can hike or take a tram ride to see Mariposa s sequoias.
Yosemite offers many camping options. There are 13 campgrounds and seven can be reserved (reservations are essential from April through September).
or be able to eat your produce freshly picked from the vine then eating fresh produce is probably a better option than frozen or canned.
Regardless of its powers to put you in the mood this succulent savory vegetable contains a stimulating blend of nutrients making this member of the lily family a fantastic food for your health.
People who are allergic to other members of the lily family such as onions garlic and chives are more likely to be allergic to asparagus.
Health Benefits, Health Risks & Nutrition Facts Turns out that onions are nothing to cry over these flavorful bulbs are packed with nutrients.
Prehistoric people probably ate wild onions long before farming was invented. Onions may have been among the earliest cultivated crops.
The Pilgrims brought onions with them on the Mayflower. However they found that Native americans were already using wild onions in a variety of ways:
eating them raw or cooked as a seasoning or as a vegetable. Onions were used also in syrups as poultices as an ingredient in dyes and even as toys.
and peel the outer layers leaving the root end intact Bulb onions are yellow red or white.
or white onions harvested before the bulb begins to form.##oespring onions#and#oesalad onions#are other aliases for immature onions.
The top onion-producing areas are Washington state Idaho-Eastern Oregon and California. The Ieading onion production countries are China India United states Turkey and Pakistan.
when aquatic ecologistcarlos de la Rosa was sailing on a slow quiet boat down the Puerto Viejo River in northeastern Costa rica with researchers students
and wildlife said de la Rosa director of the La Selva Biological Station for the Organization for Tropical Field Studies in San pedro Costa rica.
& Tear-Drinking Images It was one of those natural history moments that you long to see up close de la Rosa said in a statement.
and even blood de la Rosa said. These new findings support a 2012 report of a bee sipping the tears of a yellow-spotted river turtle in Ecuador's Yasunã National park. Similar findings were seen with butterflies drinking the tears of yellow-spotted river
When de la Rosa did research online he was surprised to find more evidence of tear-drinking than he expected not only from scientists but also casual tourists wilderness enthusiasts and professional photographers.
and micronutrients that could also play a role in the fitness of the insects tapping this resource de la Rosa said.
and the bee de la Rosa said. However I've seen these bees approach river turtles
de la Rosa asked. What could we learn from these and other interactions about the stability and sustainability of ecosystems?
De la Rosa detailed the findings in the May issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
they eat both meat and vegetation. Typical meals for a wolverine include large game like caribou moose and mountain goats;
The scientists also discovered that anthrax spores were found on grasses up to two years after the zebras had died.
and chew on the stems Turner said. After this research? I no longer chew on grass.
new life into riverbank vegetation. Because the floods rejuvenated these riverbank zones conservationists were hopeful that the wetlands could be restored.
and promote the growth of cottonwood and willow tree seeds. The purpose of the pulse flow is to improve surface water
and to enhance the delta's natural vegetation and wildlife Flessa told Livescience. Research teams from agencies universities
For instance researchers on the ground will track where the water flows on the surface examine how it infiltrates the groundwater and monitor vegetation and bird life.
In addition to field work we will be using satellite images to study the response of vegetation in the following four years Flessa said.
For instance seedlings will take a while to grow and become established Flessa said. The response of bird populations may also not be evident for a few years.
People with allergic rhinitis may be sensitive to specific types of pollen from trees grasses weeds and mold spores.
Weeds such as ragweed the most common cause of hay fever pollinate in late summer and early fall.
If you're a hiker know what type of vegetation plants and trees are found in the areas you'll be heading into.
People with severe weed or grass allergies may want to find someone else to care for their lawns during peak allergy season she said.
First agricultural waste like cornhusks and cottonseed hulls are ground up and mixed with mycelium the root systems of mushrooms.
The mixture is poured then into a mold and left to sit in the dark for a few days.
The mycelium spreads throughout the mixture binding it together in a strong web just like it would in soil.
Bayer and Mcintyre soon co-founded Ecovative Design and focused on creating mycelium-based wall insulation
The team found several genes associated with how long the seeds stay dormant resistance to pests and longer shelf life.
The trunks help the koala bears keep cool according to a new study. It can be a really useful way of getting rid of heat on a hot day said study co-author Michael Kearney an ecologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
and sleep nobody wondered why they hugged the trunks. People just thought they were taking a break on a more stable spot after eating leaves in the branches Kearney said.
Marsupial Gallery: A Pouchful of Cute As such the discovery came as a surprise. Kearney and his student doctoral candidate Natalie Briscoe were trying to predict how the woodland creatures on French Island near Melbourne would regulate their body temperatures as the continent heats up due to climate change.
which measures temperature based on thermal radiation at the tree trunks the koalas were hugging. The trunks were considerably cooler than the ambient air temperature sometimes by as
much as 9 degrees F (5 degrees C) Kearney said. She also noticed the koalas clinging to acacia trees
and started to really hug onto the tree trunks Kearney told Live Science. That seemed strange to us until we figured out that the trees are a bit cooler.
It's not clear exactly why their preferred tree trunks are cool but one possibility is that they pull in a lot of groundwater which stays closer to the annual average air temperature rather than the current air temperature he said.
which took home the coveted gold medal at the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show in 2013.
#Puzzling New Animals Look like Deep-sea Mushrooms Mysterious animals discovered offshore Australia resemble floppy chanterelle mushrooms
The center mouth opens into the stalk and is probably for both eating food and excreting waste Just said.
Of the two new species one has a shorter stalk and smaller disc compared with the other though the difference is only a few millimeters.
One Ediacaran form had an identical three-lobed disc with a stalk with exactly the same gut branches as Dendrogramma Just said.
Just said he hopes more tiny Jell-o-like creatureswill someday surface in another deep-sea expedition so modern genetic studies can reveal their evolutionary branch.
#Is Industrial Hemp the Ultimate Energy Crop?(Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation.
Industrial hemp is said to be just that. Enthusiasts have been promoting the use of industrial hemp for producing bioenergy for a long time now.
With its potentially high biomass yield and its suitability to fit into existing crop rotations hemp could
not only complement but exceed other available energy crops. Hemp Cannabis sativa originates from western Asia and India and from there spread around the globe.
For centuries fibres were used to make ropes sails cloth and paper while the seeds were used for protein-rich food and feed.
Interest in hemp declined when other fibres such as sisal and jute replaced hemp in the 19th century.
Abuse of hemp as a drug led to the prohibition of its cultivation by the United nations in 1961.
When prohibition was revoked in the 1990s in the European union Canada and later in Australia industrially used hemp emerged again.
This time the car industry s interest in light natural fibre promoted its use. For such industrial use modern varieties with insignificant content of psychoactive compounds are grown.
Nonetheless industrial hemp cultivation is prohibited still in some industrialised countries like Norway and the USA.
Energy use of industrial hemp is limited today very. There are few countries in which hemp has been commercialised as an energy crop.
Sweden is one and has a small commercial production of hemp briquettes. Hemp briquettes are more expensive than wood-based briquettes but sell reasonably well on regional markets.
Large-scale energy uses of hemp have also been suggested. Biogas production from hemp could compete with production from maize especially in cold climate regions such as Northern europe and Canada.
Ethanol production is possible from the whole hemp plant and biodiesel can be produced from the oil pressed from hemp seeds.
Biodiesel production from hemp seed oil has been shown to overall have a much lower environmental impact than fossil diesel.
Indeed the environmental benefits of hemp have been praised highly since hemp cultivation requires very limited amounts of pesticide.
Few insect pests are known to exist in hemp crops and fungal diseases are rare. Since hemp plants shade the ground quickly after sowing they can outgrow weeds a trait interesting especially for organic farmers.
Still a weed-free seedbed is required. And without nitrogen fertilisation hemp won't grow as vigorously as is suggested often.
So as with any other crop it takes good agricultural practice to grow hemp right.
Being an annual crop hemp functions very well in crop rotations. Here it may function as a break crop reducing the occurance of pests particularly in cereal production.
Farmers interested in cultivating energy crops are often hesitant about tying fields into the production of perennial energy crops such as willow.
Due to the high self-tolerance of hemp cultivation over two to three years in the same field does not lead to significant biomass yield losses.
Small-scale production of hemp briquettes has also proven economically feasible. However using whole-crop hemp
(or any other crop) for energy production is not the overall solution. Before producing energy from the residues it is certainly more environmentally friendly to use fibres oils or other compounds of hemp.
Even energy in the fibre products can be used when the products become waste. Recycling plant nutrients to the field such as in biogas residue can contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions from crop production.
Sustainable bioenergy production is not easy and a diversity of crops will be needed. Industrial hemp is not the ultimate energy crop.
Still if cultivated on good soil with decent fertilisation hemp can certainly be an environmentally sound crop for bioenergy production and for other industrial uses as well.
Thomas Prade receives funding from the Swedish Farmers'Foundation for Agricultural Research the EU commission the Skã¥ne Regional Council and Partnership Alnarp.
This article was published originally at The Conversation. Read the original article. The views expressed are those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was published originally on Livescience
#Bees'Salt-Sensing Feet Explain Swimming pool Mystery The first-ever investigation of the honeybee ability to taste with their front feet may explain a persistent bee mystery:
Why they swarm saltwater swimming pools. Saltwater swimming pools don't require chlorine or other chemicals but online home and garden forums are full of complaints about these swimming holes'dark side.
Apparently they attract honeybees en masse. Now scientists find that bees have taste receptors on their feet that are so sensitive to salt that they even dwarf the bees'capacity to taste sweets.
Our guess is they may not need to land on the water surface to taste the salt said study researcher Martin Giurfa the director of the Research center on Animal Cognition at the University of Toulouse in France.
I'm probably one of the few people that really roots for an extremely cold day because
The emerald ash borer which burrows beneath the bark of ash trees to feed on the water
It will stay under the bark so it's protected there. It will actually purge all the stomach contents of its gut
Populations of hemlock wooly adelgids which kill evergreens by feeding on the plants'needles year-round are expected to plummet.
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