Can used coffee grounds help clean up environmental toxins?
Global coffee consumption generates millions of tons of spent coffee grounds each year, which can be damaging to wildlife and the environment.
Global coffee consumption generates millions of tons of spent coffee grounds each year, which can be damaging to wildlife and the environment.
Ecology
13 hours ago
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3
Farmers rely on pesticides to control agricultural pests. But insects often develop resistance to the toxins in pesticides. University of Maryland researchers have developed and successfully tested a strategy for using genomics ...
Molecular & Computational biology
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A new study from researchers at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University found temperatures are rising during the fall months across the biggest cities in the state. And Tampa is getting the worst of it.
Environment
19 hours ago
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Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are not typically associated with water ways, like streams and rivers, but emerging research shows that water bodies play an important role in storing and releasing carbon dioxide.
Earth Sciences
Mar 14, 2024
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The soil is teeming with useful microorganisms, but there are also organisms that attack agricultural crops, affecting plant growth, yield, and quality. All soil that is to be moved in infrastructure projects or any other ...
Cell & Microbiology
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Environment
Mar 11, 2024
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In the summer of 2008, during a family holiday road trip, we passed by the Aquitaine region in southwestern France. As we drove through a sprawling woodland, a mesmerizing sight unfolded before my eyes: a meticulously ordered ...
Plants & Animals
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The complex and very diverse world of fungi is often referred to as the fifth kingdom of organisms. It includes various yeasts, molds, and mushrooms. A team of scientists from the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) has uncovered ...
Ecology
Mar 7, 2024
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No longer a problem of the future, the climate crisis is now driving devastating real-world impacts here in Canada and worldwide.
Environment
Mar 7, 2024
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Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants (i.e. crops) creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science (the related practice of gardening is studied in horticulture).
Agriculture encompasses a wide variety of specialties and techniques, including ways to expand the lands suitable for plant raising, by digging water-channels and other forms of irrigation. Cultivation of crops on arable land and the pastoral herding of livestock on rangeland remain at the foundation of agriculture. In the past century there has been increasing concern to identify and quantify various forms of agriculture. In the developed world the range usually extends between sustainable agriculture (e.g. permaculture or organic agriculture) and intensive farming (e.g. industrial agriculture).
Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, and at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects.[citation needed] Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming (and similar practices applied to the chicken) have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal cruelty and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production.[citation needed]
The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, raw materials, pharmaceuticals and stimulants, and an assortment of ornamental or exotic panget products. In the 2000s, plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Stimulants include tobacco, alcohol, opium, cocaine,and digitalis. Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.
In 2007, about one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. However, the relative significance of farming has dropped steadily since the beginning of industrialization, and in 2003 – for the first time in history – the services sector overtook agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. Despite the fact that agriculture employs over one-third of the world's population, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products).[dead link]
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