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. Researchers studying data from 600 fields in 20 countries have found that managed honey bees are not as successful at pollinating crops as wild insects, primarily wild bees, suggesting the continuing loss of wild insects in many agricultural landscapes has negative consequences for crop harvests. http://phys.org/news281280758.html Biology Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:00:01 EST news281280758 Coral colonies that suffered tissue damage in The Bahamas were still producing low numbers of eggs four years after the injuries occurred, according to new research by University at Buffalo scientists. Tiny sperm-producing factories called spermaries were also in short supply. http://phys.org/news274964677.html Biology Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:06:08 EST news274964677 Hybrid plants provide much higher yield than their homozygous parents. Plant breeders have known this for more than 100 years and used this effect called heterosis for richer harvests. Until now, science has puzzled over the molecular processes underlying this phenomenon. Researchers at the University of Bonn and partners from Tübingen and the USA have now decoded one possible mechanism in corn roots. More genes are active in hybrid plants than in their homozygous parents. This might increase growth and yield of the corn plants. The results are published in the renowned scientific journal Genome Research. http://phys.org/news273755882.html Biology Mon, 03 Dec 2012 11:18:50 EST news273755882 Scientists said on Tuesday they had proof that climate change was hitting the Perigord black truffle, a delight of gourmets around the world. http://phys.org/news273232682.html Biology Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:10:02 EST news273232682 A cell phone application enables Indian farmers to better negotiate the sale of their harvests. Farmbook is designed for use by this population segment, where illiteracy is very common. http://phys.org/news270970173.html Technology Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:29:40 EST news270970173 There will be some beauties to be found—but you may first need to kiss a few toads. http://phys.org/news270565072.html Biology Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:10:01 EST news270565072 The UN food agency warned Tuesday that desert locust swarms are likely to head to northwest Africa in the coming weeks, and urged teams armed with pesticides to protect crops from the pests. http://phys.org/news270216533.html Biology Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:50:01 EST news270216533 Research from North Carolina State University on flower production and disease resistance in watermelon varieties should help bolster seedless watermelon harvests for farmers. http://phys.org/news269610715.html Biology Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:52:08 EST news269610715 Inserting rows of "fertilizer trees" into maize fields, known as agroforestry, can help farmers across sub-Saharan Africa cope with the impacts of drought and degraded soils, according to a 12-year-long study by researchers at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). http://phys.org/news269495858.html Space & Earth Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:57:50 EST news269495858 Across much of Norway, the agricultural growing season could become up to two months longer due to climate change. A research project has been studying the potential and challenges inherent in such a scenario. http://phys.org/news269078611.html Space & Earth Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:03:37 EST news269078611 The latest government crop yield predictions may give grain farmers cause for optimism as the harvest season reaches its crescendo in Iowa, corn and soybean experts at Iowa State University said this week.   http://phys.org/news267262863.html Biology Wed, 19 Sep 2012 08:41:11 EST news267262863 The drought experienced in some parts of the world is unlikely to impact heavily on Europe's crop harvests, the European Commission said Friday in its production forecast for 2012-2013. http://phys.org/news265624527.html Space & Earth Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:35:34 EST news265624527 U.S. Forest Service entomologist Jim Hanula may be the only person in the South who actually wants to keep kudzu alive. http://phys.org/news260452857.html Biology Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:01:06 EST news260452857 One source of income for Pennsylvania dairy farmers has hit its lowest point in three years, according to a dairy market expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. http://phys.org/news258877463.html Other Sciences Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:24:31 EST news258877463 A phenomenon first observed by an ancient Greek philosopher 2,300 years ago has become the basis for a new device designed to harvest the enormous amounts of energy wasted as heat each year to produce electricity. The first-of-its-kind "pyroelectric nanogenerator" is the topic of a report in ACS' journal Nano Letters. http://phys.org/news258813997.html Nanotechnology Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:20:01 EST news258813997 Researchers have identified the set of tools an infectious microbe uses to persuade a plant to open the windows and let the bug and all of its friends inside. http://phys.org/news258804489.html Biology Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:00:03 EST news258804489 Every summer, Himalayan villages empty as locals rush to the mountains of northern Nepal to harvest yarchagumba, a high-altitude wild fungus that is prized for its aphrodisiac qualities. http://phys.org/news258525542.html Biology Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:39:35 EST news258525542 Europe's food safety agency EFSA on Monday rejected the grounds for a temporary French ban on a genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto. http://phys.org/news256843641.html Biology Mon, 21 May 2012 20:30:01 EST news256843641 New research suggests that allowing more Pacific salmon to spawn in coastal streams will not only benefit the natural environment, including grizzly bears, but could also lead to more salmon in the ocean and thus larger salmon harvests in the long term—a win-win for ecosystems and humans. In a new article and accompanying synopsis published April 10 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, Taal Levi and co-authors from UC Santa Cruz and Canada investigate how increasing "escapement"—the number of salmon that escape fishing nets to enter streams and spawn—can improve the natural environment. http://phys.org/news253287027.html Biology Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:00:04 EST news253287027 Communications via satellite are changing the way the forest industry harvests trees. A new approach being tested by ESA combines satcoms and cellular services to relay important information almost immediately so that fewer trees are used to produce more timber. http://phys.org/news252574117.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:28:54 EST news252574117 Responding to the dwindling abundance of Prunus africana in the wild, a tree listed as "vulnerable to extinction" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a recent study by the World Agroforestry Centre identifies possible locations in Kenya for developing tree farms. http://phys.org/news252124196.html Biology Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:30:08 EST news252124196 For the red pigmentation to develop, blood oranges normally require a period of cold as they ripen. The only place to reliably grow them on a commercial scale is in the Sicilian area of Italy around Mount Etna. Here, the combination of sun and cold/sunny days and warm nights provides ideal growing conditions. http://phys.org/news250831162.html Biology Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:19:45 EST news250831162 Researchers in Australia say they have pinpointed key factors in the early ripening of grapes, providing potential answers for wine growers threatened by global warming. http://phys.org/news249485326.html Space & Earth Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:29:04 EST news249485326 France's ecology ministry said Monday it had asked European regulators to suspend authorisation for the use of genetically modified MON 810 maize crops from US company Monsanto based on new studies. http://phys.org/news248965510.html Biology Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:05:17 EST news248965510 Why not produce lettuce, beans and tomatoes where most of the consumers are to be found: in the city? The flat roofs of many buildings are well-suited for growing vegetables. Rooftop greenhouses can also make use of a building's waste heat and cleaned waste water. http://phys.org/news248009495.html Biology Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:31:46 EST news248009495 Truffle farmers have never had to worry about demand. It is the supply side that is worrying, with global warming an ever more present threats to their success. http://phys.org/news243178200.html Biology Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:30:12 EST news243178200 Proposals to remove the carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuel from the atmosphere include letting commercially managed forests grow longer between harvests or not cutting them at all. http://phys.org/news241192826.html Space & Earth Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:00:34 EST news241192826 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using satellite images, Mutlu Ozdogan, an assistant professor of forest and wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is automatically generating maps showing where trees have been harvested in the form of clear-cut areas over five-year intervals. http://phys.org/news240136217.html Space & Earth Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:00:04 EST news240136217 German chemicals giant BASF said Monday it has applied for EU approval for a genetically modified potato which is resistant to a disease that wipes out a fifth of the world's potato crops each year. http://phys.org/news239283307.html Biology Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:35:15 EST news239283307 Massive floods have ravaged vast swathes of Asia's rice bowl, threatening to further drive up food prices and adding to the burden of farmers who are among the region's poorest, experts say. http://phys.org/news237088298.html Biology Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:51:50 EST news237088298