Agriculture
High-Resolution Heat Maps and Shade Modelling Show Cities Where Tree Planting Cools Most
When a heat wave settles over a city, the difference between a sweltering afternoon and a bearable one can come...
From Nanoscale Probes to the Dinner Plate: New Model Predicts Meat Texture From Single Myofibrils
Why does a bite of pork tenderloin feel firmer than a piece of chicken breast, and why does cooking turn...
Mild Pepper Virus Turned Into a Powerful Gene Tool for Crop Scientists
Pepper is one of the most economically important vegetable crops in the world, yet scientists trying to understand which of...
Sous-Vide Plus Searing Rescues Low-Grade PSE Pork, Study Finds
Every year, a surprising share of the pork that leaves the processing plant never reaches its full potential on the...
Rice Pollen Fertility Hinges on a Daily Rhythm Written by Light and the Circadian Clock
Every rice leaf keeps time. As the sun rises and sets, thousands of genes inside the leaf surge and subside...
Hidden Ground Cherry Turns Up in Assam, Extending a Wandering Species Into Northeast India
Botanists surveying the wayside vegetation of Assam’s Kamrup district have confirmed the presence of a ground cherry previously unknown to...
Sunflower-Grown Zinc Nanoparticles Boost Eggplant Growth and Nutrition, Study Finds
A team of Nigerian researchers has shown that tiny zinc oxide particles made from sunflower leaves can dramatically reshape how...
Showy Flowers Trade Strength for Chemistry in Cosmos sulphureus, Study Finds
The sulphur cosmos, Cosmos sulphureus, is one of those plants that gardeners and herbalists think they know well. A fast-growing...
Tomato Immunity Gene SlTCP16 Fights Bacterial Attack by Boosting Lignin Defenses
Tomato growers know the devastation that bacterial pathogens can inflict on a crop, and one of the most notorious culprits...
Hidden Treasure in Benin’s Sorghum Fields: Local Varieties Reveal Surprising Yield Potential
In the rocky highlands of north-western Benin, where farmers have cultivated sorghum for generations without formal seed systems, a team...
Organic Farming’s Hidden Risk: Chicken Manure Can Load Cockscomb With Toxic Metals
Chicken manure has long been celebrated as the green alternative to synthetic fertilizers, a way to feed crops while recycling...
Cowhide Collagen Peptides Team Up With Bitter Melon to Fight High Blood Sugar
A discarded food industry byproduct may be quietly becoming one of the more surprising players in diabetes research. In a...
Cow Manure Becomes Biodegradable Mulch Film, Keeping Maize Yields With 30% Less Fertilizer
Chinese agriculture has long been trapped in a thorny triangle of interlocking problems: farmers apply too much chemical fertilizer, conventional...
Plantain Roots Quiet the Soil Microbes That Turn Fertilizer Into Pollutants
Every year, vast quantities of nitrogen fertilizer applied to pastures and croplands are transformed by soil microbes into nitrate, a...
New Antibody Tests Outperform PCR in Detecting Devastating Rice Panicle Blight Pathogens
Rice farmers and quarantine inspectors may soon have a powerful new weapon against one of the world’s most destructive rice...
Daily Low Doses of Shellfish Toxins Trigger Lasting Gut and Kidney Changes in Mice
For decades, food safety regulators have focused on the acute dangers of diarrhetic shellfish toxins, the potent compounds produced by...
UV-C Light Emerges as a Powerful, Chemical-Free Weapon for Apple Safety and Shelf Life
Apples are one of the planet’s most produced fruits, with global output exceeding 97 million tons in 2023, led by...
Self-Driving Robot Reads Tomato Seedling Health With Light Alone
A small four-wheeled robot that rolls autonomously down greenhouse aisles, aims a multispectral camera at individual tomato seedling leaves, and...
Highland Maize Hybrids Show Big Yield Gains Across Ethiopian Test Sites
Maize is the backbone of food security in Ethiopia, ranking second only to teff in cultivated area while leading all...
Milk Fat Membrane Lipids Show Promise Against Fatty Liver Disease in Mouse Study
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has quietly become one of the most widespread chronic conditions on the planet, affecting an estimated...