Five A+ Back-to-School Citizen Science Projects
Fall means back to school—check out these five citizen science projects on a variety of topics to bring the classroom to your living room!
Read MoreTag: food
Food Waste: The Psychology of Ugly Produce
Food waste is a big problem in the United States, where each household discards an average of one third of the food people buy.
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The environmental impact of pet food
What is the environmental paw print of pet food? Larger than you may think! It takes an area twice the size of the UK to produce dry food for cats and dogs.
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What You Do Impacts Your Eating Habits
Our eating habits are affected by the type of activities we engage in and the amount of attention they require, according to recent studies.
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Honeybees Are Attracted to Fungicides and Herbicides
Scientists found that honeybees are attracted to fungicides and herbicides. Honeybees have a deadly attraction to the chemicals in Roundup. By Neha Jain Whenever you eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts, take a moment to thank honeybees for their pollination services that contribute $17 billion to the US economy each year. In fact, almonds are almost solely dependent on honeybees for pollination. Populations of these much-needed pollinators have mysteriously plunged over the past decade, and many studies suggest a link to the use of neonicotinoid insecticides among other factors such as…
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New Ways to Reduce Antibiotics in Food Animals by 2030
By Neha Jain @lifesciexplore In a new study, researchers in the United States and Europe propose three measures—capping antibiotic use in farm animals, imposing a fee for veterinary use of antibiotics, and limiting meat intake—that, together, can reduce the use of antibiotics in food animals by up to 80 percent by 2030. Antibiotic resistance results from antibiotics overuse Overuse of antibiotics, particularly in animals for food, is the main cause of the spread of resistance whereby antibiotics lose their effectiveness, and infections become untreatable, leading to what many scientists call…
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Robust Rice Varieties Cut Costs and Pollution
By Neha Jain @lifesciexplore Climate change coupled with our growing population is putting tremendous pressure on world food production, especially in developing countries. We need crops that use resources more efficiently. Scientists from China and Canada have identified “superstar” rice varieties that can reduce pollution and also save money spent by farmers on nitrogen fertilizers. “Anything we can do to reduce demand for nitrogen, both environmentally and for farmers in the developing world struggling to pay for it, is a significant contribution,” says Herbert Kronzucker, distinguished professor at the University…
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Panama Disease is Killing the Banana
By Gert HJ Kema, Professor of Tropical Phytopathology, Wageningen University and Research Center, Wageningen, The Netherlands Cavendish bananas saved the entire banana industry a century ago. The then most planted variety “Gros Michel” was being wiped out by the soil-borne fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. The fungus was causing Panama disease, severe and progressive wilting and that eventually lead to plant death. The extinction of the first popular banana was a blow to the developing export trade, to growers and all associated workers and lead to huge societal unrest and economic collapse. The major…
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A Family Meal a Day May Keep Obesity Away
Can obesity be fought with a family meal? Home cooking tends to include more fruits, vegetables, calcium, and whole grains than takeout food.
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