An enzyme discovered at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) proves adept at breaking down cellulose fibers regardless of whether their crystalline structure is simple or highly ...
Biotechnology
Sep 18, 2017
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Indiana farmer Mike Starkey does not plow his fields and uses fertilizer only sparingly, but he is on the cutting edge of a growing trend in American agriculture.
Environment
Apr 17, 2012
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(Phys.org) —An international team of researchers, including an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside, has an explanation for why we see so many hybrid moths in nature. The team closely examined the behavior ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 16, 2013
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A grass called teosinte is thought to be the ancestor of corn, but it doesn't look much like corn at all. Smithsonian scientists were surprised to find that teosinte planted in growth chambers under climate conditions that ...
Biotechnology
Feb 3, 2014
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To avoid creating greenhouse gases, it makes more sense using today's technology to leave land unfarmed in conservation reserves than to plow it up for corn to make biofuel, according to a comprehensive Duke University-led ...
Environment
Mar 2, 2009
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Are genetically engineered foods safe? Truth is, we probably don't know. "The scientific debate is not resolved, even though many people are claiming it is," says Sheldon Krimsky, the Lenore Stern Professor of Humanities ...
Biotechnology
Nov 7, 2014
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Corn split off from its closest relative teosinte, a wild Mexican grass, about 10,000 years ago thanks to the breeding efforts of early Mexican farmers. Today it's hard to tell that the two plants were ever close kin: Corn ...
Biotechnology
Sep 25, 2011
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In the March issue of BioScience, researchers present a sophisticated new analysis of the effects of boosting use of maize-derived ethanol on greenhouse gas emissions. The study, conducted by Thomas W. Hertel of Purdue University ...
Environment
Mar 11, 2010
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A new study answers a question that has baffled researchers for more than 15 years: How does the western corn rootworm – an insect that thrives on corn but dies on soybeans – persist in fields that alternate between ...
Evolution
Jul 19, 2012
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The past year has not been kind to corn. Though it has long been the nation's largest crop, the one-two punch of historic drought and record-high temperatures in July and August combined to damage U.S. corn crops, which fell ...
Environment
Dec 17, 2012
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