Science NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 Science Sat, 15 May 2021 04:59:06 +0000 https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Madelyn Beck Sci-fi writers have long warned about the dangers of modifying organisms. They come in forms ranging from accidentally creating a plague of killer locusts (1957) to recreating dinosaurs with added frog genes (2015). Now, with researchers looking to even more advanced gene-editing technology to protect crops, they’ll have to think about how to present that tech to a long-skeptical public. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/farming-headed-toward-gene-editing-revolution-and-hoping-public-comes-along-too 760 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 26 Jul 2019 21:36:06 +0000 Farming Is Headed Toward A Gene-Editing Revolution, And Hoping The Public Comes Along, Too Madelyn Beck Plants are good at what they do — turning sunlight into food. However, some researchers have found the leaf world could improve, and that could have a major effect on the world’s growing population. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/can-hacking-plants-feed-world-research-looks-good 654 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Tue, 08 Jan 2019 18:05:04 +0000 Can Hacking Plants Feed the World? The Research Looks Good Bryan Thompson As a group of visiting scientists prepared to board a plane in Hawaii that would take them back home to China, U.S. customs agents found rice seeds in their luggage. Those seeds are likely to land at least one scientist in federal prison. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/worry-fields-about-growing-threat-agricultural-espionage 320 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 01 Jun 2017 21:38:21 +0000 Worry In The Fields About The 'Growing Threat' Of Agricultural Espionage Amy Mayer Belt-tightening has been the trend for row-crop farmers in the Midwest for the past several years as corn and soybean prices remain low. Reducing application of expensive herbicides may be tempting to save money, but that’s a strategy that could result in severe economic consequences down the road. “We understand the need to cut costs, but in terms of weeds we need to look in the long run,” says Bob Hartzler, a weed scientist at Iowa State University. “There’s the old saying ‘one year’s seeds equals seven years’ weeds’ and in the past farmers recognized that. But as we developed more effective herbicides, there was a period in time when that old adage didn’t hold true.” Now he says some weeds have become resistant to the herbicides and if even a few are left in a field, the following year they could come back with a vengeance. So, quite to the contrary of saving money on weed control this year, Hartzler is calling for more aggressive, comprehensive management. “As weeds have adapted https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/scientists-say-don-t-cut-costs-weed-control 312 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 12 May 2017 18:20:54 +0000 Scientists Say Don’t Cut Costs On Weed Control Amy Mayer This summer, in cornfields in Iowa and Nebraska, about a thousand small point-and-shoot digital cameras will be enclosed in waterproof cases, mounted on poles and attached to solar-powered battery chargers. They will take pictures every ten minutes as plants grow; all part of a plan to create better seeds. “We watch plants go through their normal growth and development and also we watch them respond to environmental stressors, like drought and so forth,” says Pat Schnable, director of the Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State University. The institute still has greenhouses and traditional wet labs, but the time-honored tradition of crossbreeding plants again and again to get the best traits is no longer the primary way the science is done. Now, scientists are harnessing the power of Big Data in an effort to make the process more focused and faster. That means plant breeders can potentially bring more different new seeds, maximized for different environments, to market faster. More https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/big-data-transforming-how-breeders-create-better-seeds 307 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Sun, 07 May 2017 15:10:00 +0000 Big Data Is Transforming How Breeders Create Better Seeds