Experts from Lund University developed a cheaper way of producing artificial pheromones that can confuse insects and prevent them to find mates. Manufacturing artificial pheromones is complex and expensive. It can cost around US$1,000 to US$3,500 per kilogram, and an additional US$40 to US$400 »
In a paper published Sept. 8 in the journal Communications Biology, scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Arkansas report that a crop pest called weedy rice has become widely herbicide resistant in regions where herbicide-resistant rice is planted. The study highlights challenges facing U.S. »
Flooding is a global risk, according to the World Bank, with the lives and property of billions of people threatened. Even more people are at risk of starvation as a knock-on effect of floods: the waters can drown crops. Now, researchers are getting closer to identifying the molecular processes underlying »
While increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere encourage plant growth, they also reduce the nutritional value of plants, which can have a larger impact on nutrition and food safety worldwide. Researchers at Michigan State University discovered a new way plants are adapting to the changing climate -- information that »
It's not possible to grow cacao without insects -- that's logical. After all, they ensure that the flowers are pollinated and that the valuable cacao fruits, a sought-after material for the food industry, develop. Studies in Indonesia had shown in the past that birds and bats also contribute to increasing »
Genetically modifying trees to increase resilience has long been hounded by regulatory hurdles and public opposition, but the latest findings of the University of Manchester's scientists offer an important contribution to this debate. The apple rubbery wood virus (ARWV) has infected many apple trees worldwide. In the study, the scientists »
Collective groundwater pumping by millions of farmers in Bangladesh in the dry season each year has created vast natural reservoirs underground that, over a 30-year-period, rival the world's largest dams -- these sustain irrigation that has transformed this previously famine-prone country to a food-secure nation, according to a new study »
For the first time, RIPE researchers have proven that multigene bioengineering of photosynthesis increases the yield of a major food crop in field trials. After more than a decade of working toward this goal, a collaborative team led by the University of Illinois has transgenically altered soybean plants to increase »
The flash of lightning and the dance of auroras contain a fourth state of matter known as plasma, which researchers have harnessed to produce a gas that may activate plant immunity against wide-spread diseases. The team, based at Tohoku University in Japan, published their findings recently in PLOS One. " »
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University reported that gene editing of an APETALA2/ethylene responsive factor (AP2/ERF) transcription factor, DUO1, could lead to better wheat grain yield. Their findings are featured in Nature Plants. Wheat is one of the most important food crops worldwide. To »
Finding out the 3D structure of almost all protein will be as easy as googling. DeepMind, the Google-owned artificial intelligence (AI) company based in London, created AlphaFold, the revolutionary AI network that can predict the structures of over 200 million proteins of about 1 million species. “Essentially, you can think »
