Temperature is something we worry about in our lives all the time. What temperature is it outside so you know what to wear and what are the conditions going to be in coming days or weeks. Farmers have to worry about this as well, as excessive periods of heat or cold snaps can prove damaging […]
Food poisoning is an ongoing problem in the food supply line around the world. Even in the cleanest and most stringent of countries, outbreaks of illness still occur every now and then from some contaminated food source. This isn’t surprising, though, as there are so many parts of the food processing pipeline, from farm to […]
Communities of bacteria in the soil and in aquatic environments work together to assist each other. For scientists, it is often difficult to study these organisms because their cultivation relies on the inclusion of the other species being in their environment as well. Attempts to culture individual species on, say, a petri dish usually fails. […]
Contaminated drinking water is one of the main health concerns in the world, especially within developing countries. And the greatest contaminant that health officials have to deal with, which affects and slowly poisons over 100 million people around the world, is arsenic. A Worldwide Concern Groundwater pollution from arsenic is a serious problem and it’s […]
When dealing with fungi, it is never just the organism itself that is the problem, but also the many mutualistic relationships it has in the soil. In some cases, those relationships are antagonistic and can be used against fungi that attack crops, such as by using specialized mycoviruses. But even in the cases where the […]
Temperature, rainfall, soil stability, and many other factors contribute to plant growth (and in turn successful agriculture). Humans do our best to help influence and manipulate these conditions to improve our ability to grow crops, but even this is unable to change the basic fact that there are certain areas of the world that are […]
Welcome to Miniposts, a series of articles based on posts made to the Bioscription Facebook page. Due to their often lengthy nature, it was decided that reposting them to the main site was appropriate. Please go here to view the original post. The International Space Station (ISS) is the perfect place for new and exciting […]
Smoking has long had a cultural history associated with weight loss. Even without understanding the biochemistry involved, ancient peoples and cultures all the way up to modern times have associated smoking with appetite suppression. Going off smoking has then often resulted in huge weight gain, related to a higher caloric intake afterward and a slower […]
As science progresses, new methods are developed to accomplish tasks. Some help medical and agricultural science work faster, others allow completely news ways of doing things. In the business of promoting new crop traits, CRISPR is one example of a revolutionary new technology that opens up new avenues. But it isn’t the only one. In […]
First published in 2000 under the title A Consumer’s Guide to GM Food: From Green Genes to Red Herrings, this book was devised by scientist Alan McHughen to act as a fundamental guide to agricultural biotechnology, how it works, and what the science has achieved. It was retitled to Pandora’s Picnic Basket when released in […]
