Ethanol's Forecast
Rain and floods in the corn-growing Midwest could drive up the costs of producing the biofuel.Heavy rains, flooding, and cool weather in the Midwest will likely lead to much lower corn yields this...
View ArticleCarbon Nanotubes Are Super Fertilizer
Tomato plants exposed to nanotubes grow bigger and faster, but safety concerns remain.
View ArticleShortage of Fertilizer Could Impact Food Security
You can add a coming phosphorus shortage to your worry list.This week, while reporting a story on a new reaction that breaks nitrogen triple bonds, I talked to MIT chemist Christopher Cummins about...
View ArticleEngineer Plants to Reflect Light Back into Space
Announcing this year’s so-crazy-it-might-work award from the ARPA-E Summit.Every year at the annual Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy Summit (which took place this week) you can count on...
View ArticlePlastic from Grass
Engineers seek a cheaper biodegradable polymer.Nearly all the plastics sold today come from petroleum and aren’t biodegradable. But researchers at Metabolix in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are genetically...
View ArticleFatter Cows and Chickens from GM Crops
Biotech turns to DNA editing technology to engineer easier-to-digest plants for farm animals.New methods of genome editing that make precise changes in the DNA of living organisms could have a...
View ArticleAgricultural Drones
Relatively cheap drones with advanced sensors and imaging capabilities are giving farmers new ways to increase yields and reduce crop damage.
View ArticleChinese Researchers Stop Wheat Disease with Gene Editing
Researchers have created wheat that is resistant to a common disease, using advanced gene editing methods.Advanced genome-editing techniques have been used to create a strain of wheat resistant to a...
View ArticleInsect Farming Is Taking Shape as Demand for Animal Feed Rises
As the world grows hungrier for animal protein, insects could be the new way to feed livestock.Most farmers go to great lengths to keep insects at bay. For a growing cadre of livestock and fish...
View ArticleA Nimble-Wheeled Farm Robot Goes to Work in Minnesota
The latest in autonomous farming is a robot that weaves between corn stalks, applying fertilizer as it goes.This summer a Minnesota startup began deploying an autonomous robot that rolls between corn...
View ArticleClimate Change: Why the Tropical Poor Will Suffer Most
As the Pope calls for action on climate change, a growing body of evidence shows that low-latitude countries will feel the heaviest effects of global warming.In his encyclical on climate change, leaked...
View ArticleAt a Crossroads, Biofuels Seek a New Path Forward
New microbes and new techniques show promise for advanced biofuels, but the industry is still years away from real progress.Attempting to chart a path forward for the beleaguered biofuels industry, a...
View ArticleThe Next Great GMO Debate
Deep inside its labs, Monsanto is learning how to modify crops by spraying them with RNA rather than tinkering with their genes.The Colorado potato beetle is a voracious eater. The insect can chew...
View ArticleLike GMOs, Minus the Baggage
Sprayed-on RNA can improve farmers’ lives without genetically modifying their crops.Almost 60 years ago I stood beneath a blazing Louisiana sun, up to my knees weeding in the tepid, mosquito-infested...
View ArticleSachs Says UN’s Development Goals Should Inspire Technologists
Columbia economist says ambitious international goals are needed to avert big crises in the world.Establishing a set of hugely ambitious global goals that include ending extreme poverty by 2030 is “not...
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