http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. An article published in the June issue of BioScience describes the early scale-up stage of a new biotechnology with environmental benefits and possible commercial potential. Algal turf scrubbers are field-sized, water-treatment systems that can extract excess nutrients from streams, canals, and lakes polluted by agricultural, domestic, and some industrial runoff. They use sunlight as their principal source of energy and simultaneously restore oxygen levels. The devices work by pulsing contaminated water across algae that are allowed to grow on screens. Algal turf scrubbers produce waste suitable for use as a nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich fertilizer and for conversion to biofuel or high-value nutraceuticals. Some algal turf scrubbers can even operate in open water, thus minimizing loss of agricultural land to the systems. http://phys.org/news226118967.html Biology Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:16:51 EST news226118967 Over 100 farmers in Embu received insurance payouts via M-PESA today, marking the first payouts issued through the mobile phone payment system M-PESA by Kilimo Salama, an innovative micro-insurance program that protects farmers' investments in improved seeds and farm inputs against drought and other extreme weather. http://phys.org/news204263979.html Biology Tue, 21 Sep 2010 04:59:55 EST news204263979 Farmers and crop scientists worldwide are engaged in an ambitious new effort to add 3,000 yam samples to international genebanks with the aim of saving the diversity of a crop that is consumed by 60 million people on a daily basis in Africa alone, according to an announcement today from the Global Crop Diversity Trust. http://phys.org/news203832186.html Biology Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:03:40 EST news203832186 A major study of agriculture in Haiti after this year's earthquake has found that much of the emergency seed aid provided after the disaster was not targeted to emergency needs. The report concludes that seed aid, when poorly-designed, could actually harm farmers or depress local markets, therefore hampering recovery from emergencies. http://phys.org/news202617665.html Other Sciences Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:53:02 EST news202617665 Given the impact of climatic extremes on agriculture and health in Spain, researchers at the University of Salamanca (USAL) have analysed the two factors most representative of these thermal extremes between 1950 and 2006 - warm days and cold nights. The results for mainland Spain show an increase in the number of warm days greater than that for the rest of the planet and a reduction in the number of cold nights. http://phys.org/news202466463.html Space & Earth Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:00:01 EST news202466463 As climate change intensifies drought conditions in Africa and sparks fears of a new cycle of crippling food shortages, a study released today finds widespread adoption of recently developed drought-tolerant varieties of maize could boost harvests in 13 African countries by 10 to 34 percent and generate up to US$1.5 billion in benefits for producers and consumers. http://phys.org/news201890753.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:00:01 EST news201890753 Guam has been an important military, communication, aviation, and shipping hub of Micronesia for many years. The importation of vegetables from Korea and the Philippines has resulted in the arrival of several invasive mite species. http://phys.org/news201874065.html Biology Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:50:02 EST news201874065 Scientists from Kyoto University, Japan, studying chimpanzees in Guinea have published research revealing why primates attack humans and what prevention measures can be taken. The study, published in a special issue of The American Journal of Primatology, suggests that while rare, attacks by primates on humans may increase as wild habitat is increasingly converted for agriculture. http://phys.org/news200739752.html Biology Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:20:04 EST news200739752 In a major breakthrough, crop scientists announced today the successful transfer of green pepper genes to bananas, conferring on the popular fruit the means to resist one of the most devastating diseases of bananas in the Great Lakes region of Africa. http://phys.org/news200314683.html Biology Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:10:01 EST news200314683 (PhysOrg.com) -- News accounts of organic agriculture and organic food are more likely to be positive than negative and inaccurately claim organic food is safer, according to Kansas State University's Doug Powell. http://phys.org/news198938709.html Other Sciences Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:00:04 EST news198938709 Urgent action is needed to stop the rapid and alarming loss of genetic diversity of African livestock that provide food and income to 70 percent of rural Africans and include a treasure-trove of drought- and disease-resistant animals, according to a new analysis presented today at a major gathering of African scientists and development experts. http://phys.org/news198858942.html Biology Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:35:57 EST news198858942 In the start of a carefully crafted emergency campaign to thwart a pest outbreak that is wreaking havoc on Thailand's vital cassava production, agricultural researchers will release a quarter of a million parasitic wasps in the northeastern part of the country. http://phys.org/news198404252.html Biology Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:00:01 EST news198404252 Jitendra Kumar Chinthaginjala of the University of Twente, The Netherlands, has developed a catalyst that can efficiently remove nitrite and nitrate from drinking water. These two toxic substances are increasingly found in drinking water in areas with intensive agriculture. The catalyst converts nitrite and nitrate, in combination with hydrogen, into harmless nitrogen. http://phys.org/news196085179.html Chemistry Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:07:39 EST news196085179 The commercial paper industry's plans to plant forests of genetically altered eucalyptus trees in seven Southern states has generated more cries from critics worried that such a large introduction of a bioengineered nonnative plant could throw natural ecosystems out of whack. http://phys.org/news195105281.html Biology Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:55:17 EST news195105281 Six new corn inbred lines with resistance to aflatoxin contamination have been found to be free of seed-borne diseases foreign to the United States, and seeds of these lines are now available in the United States for further development toward commercialization. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant pathologist Robert Brown, working in collaboration with Abebe Menkir at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria, developed the lines. http://phys.org/news193586910.html Biology Thu, 20 May 2010 15:40:01 EST news193586910 Plant roots enmeshed in layers of discarded materials inside upright pipes can purify dirty water from a washing machine, making it fit for growing vegetables and flushing toilets, according to Penn State horticulturists. http://phys.org/news192269424.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 May 2010 09:10:52 EST news192269424 (PhysOrg.com) -- Important biosecurity issues are being ignored in the global push to develop new non-food crops for biofuels and industrial and pharmaceutical uses, according to a report published recently by CSIRO. http://phys.org/news191770174.html Biology Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:30:02 EST news191770174 Two Virginia Tech professors are leading research teams that will work with scientists and small-scale farmers in South America and the Caribbean to increase food production, improve soil quality, and reduce risks associated with climate change. The projects are part of the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP), a $15 million, five-year program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and managed by the university's Office of International Research, Education, and Development. http://phys.org/news187868722.html Space & Earth Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:45:52 EST news187868722 As East Africa recovers from the worst drought in decades, an innovative program launched today will use a low-cost, mobile phone payment and data system, and automated, solar powered weather stations, to offer thousands of farmers in parts of Western and Central Kenya affordable, "pay as you plant" insurance to protect their investments in desperately needed high-yielding seeds, fertilizers, as well as other farm inputs. http://phys.org/news186991038.html Technology Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:57:47 EST news186991038 Academic programs and courses have increased in recent years for sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and agroecology. In a recent study published in the 2010 volume of the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, researchers from Cornell University and North Carolina State University sought to bring hands-on learning activities and experiential learning, which are often a part of for-credit coursework, to employment settings. http://phys.org/news185130191.html Other Sciences Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:50:01 EST news185130191 Randy Hill lives amid the fossil fuels of America, a place where natural gas and crude oil made millionaires and the landscape is dotted with pump jacks. But Hill, who lives outside Abilene in West Texas, is spending much of his time nowadays talking about an unusual power source: wood chips. http://phys.org/news184605224.html Technology Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:50:01 EST news184605224 (AP) -- The chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee wants an investigation into the risk of deadly E. coli getting into school lunches. http://phys.org/news176963421.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:31:50 EST news176963421 An analysis of three and half decades of maize research in African farming communities finds big benefits. A multi-country study, in Agricultural Economics, reports the significant role international maize research plays in reducing poverty. It finds that since the mid-1990s, more than one million people per year have escaped poverty through the adoption of new maize varieties. http://phys.org/news175951762.html Biology Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:29:48 EST news175951762 (AP) -- Trucks that could be hauling livestock along the Kansas and Oklahoma border were detained and their drivers questioned Thursday, during a drill aimed at protecting the nation's food supply from foot-and-mouth disease. http://phys.org/news175502052.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:20:01 EST news175502052 (AP) -- Preliminary tests show three pigs in Minnesota may have contracted the swine flu virus making them the first potential U.S. cases in swine, agricultural officials said Friday. They stressed the finding does not threaten food safety. http://phys.org/news174978587.html Medicine & Health Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:20:03 EST news174978587 (PhysOrg.com) -- Six new inbred maize lines with resistance to aflatoxin contamination have now been registered in the United States by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). ARS plant pathologist Robert Brown and colleague Abebe Menkir, with the Ibadan, Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, developed the lines. http://phys.org/news174894984.html Biology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:20:01 EST news174894984 Botanists at Britain's Kew Gardens have collected seeds from 10 percent of the world's wild plants, their first goal in a long-term project to protect all endangered species, they said Thursday. http://phys.org/news174815972.html Biology Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:00:56 EST news174815972 Plants may not have eyes and ears, but they can recognize their siblings, and researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered how. http://phys.org/news174747583.html Biology Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:14:10 EST news174747583 With more than 2 million cows on 68,000 farms, Missouri is the third-largest beef producer in the nation. Due to rising feed prices, farmers are struggling to provide feed for the cows that contribute more than $1 billion to Missouri's economy. University of Missouri researcher Monty Kerley, professor of animal nutrition in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, is studying how cows might be able to gain more weight while consuming less, potentially saving farmers up to 40 percent of feed costs. http://phys.org/news173611731.html Biology Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:40:02 EST news173611731 According to climate change experts, our planet has a fever -- melting glaciers are just one stark sign of the radical changes we can expect. But global warming's effects on farming and water resources is still a mystery. A new Tel Aviv University invention, a real-time "Optical Soil Dipstick" (OSD), may help solve the mystery and provide a new diagnostic tool for assessing the health of our planet. http://phys.org/news173611636.html Space & Earth Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:29:32 EST news173611636