Engineered Bacteria Reduces CO2 And Produces Acetone And IPA

With the world continuing on its course toward severe climate instability in the future, the desire to reduce the use of fossil fuels and lower humanity’s production of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide has become an issue of ever greater importance as the years go on. But there are a number of highly beneficial chemicals […]

Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum 'N' Joy') 2

Genetically Modified Pothos Ivy Houseplant Detoxifies Air Of Pollutants

No matter where or when you are in the world, there are carcinogenic pollutants in the air. The natural degradation of plant material and other chemical reactions across the planet produce these compounds. This is also true for humans and the things we make and the homes we live in. The slow breakdown of laminate […]

Cotton boll nearly ready for harvest

Transgenic Cotton and Phosphite May Replace The Need For Herbicides

In order to promote healthy and vibrant crops, we have to deal with all the stresses and competition this entails for our burgeoning plants. Farmers do their best to help reduce limitations on growth by applying fertilizers, nutrients, water, and overall using mixed soils and crop rotation in order to create the best possible living […]

A thaliana seedlings (cropped)

Manipulating The Plant-Bacteria Microbiome To Optimize Growth

When dealing with plants in a lab, in a garden, or in an agricultural field, we often forget that there was originally a whole biome that those plants were involved in in the wild. We often try to simulate those conditions to the best of our capabilities, but there is still so much knowledge we […]

Restoring an urban stream (after) (7557277790)

Bioremediation: The Biology of Cleaning Environmental Pollution

Contamination of the environment is a topic oft spoken of in an incredibly broad sense. That the actions of some governments or organizations are damaging to their surroundings comes as no surprise, but discussions on the specifics and what can be done to fix the issues rarely comes up in the public societal consciousness. The […]

My Energetical

Global Fuel Sources and How To Reach Energy Sustainability

Global Fuel Sources and How To Reach Energy Sustainability By Sterling Ericsson and Preston Hurst Energy demand and supply has been a continuous topic in the world of fuel production. As populations expand and advanced technologies become more ubiquitous, the demand for more energy in the form of electricity, transportation fuel, and more multiplies. From […]

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

Ethnobotany: A Primer On The Intersection Of Culture and Nature

Ethnobotany is one of those fields that encompasses more than just itself. It is larger than the sum of its parts. Connected to the wider field of ethnobiology, it relates to all of its other sister fields, like ethnoentomology, ethnozoology, and ethnomycology. And discussing just those misses out on the various other culture specific fields […]

E coli at 10000x

How To Control GMOs: Biocontainment and Genetically Modified Bacteria

When dealing with bacteria in a lab setting, it is often a requirement to ensure that the risk of the bacteria escaping from containment is as minimized as possible. This is especially so if developing bacteria that produce a substance that one wouldn’t want to allow to get into the wild. Escape Risk and Non-Competitiveness […]