Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Caduceus with DNA via Ancestry.com Francis Thicke, agronomist and organic dairy farmer in Iowa, asks: Do you think there are unanswered questions about the health effects of GE foods? I have heard GE critiques frequently contend that there have been very few feeding trials on the health effects of GE foods, and that in the…
Read More “Are there unintended health effects of genetic engineering?” »
Alfalfa by TwoWings via Wikimedia Commons. Alfalfa is an awesome plant that is quite unique among field crops. It’s a legume, which means it can fix nitrogen (meaning less nitrogen fertilizer needs to be added) as well as being one of very few perennial crops, which means it can be left in the field to grow year…
Using Mosquitoes to Conquer Disease Through Vaccination One of the things I’ve been talking about here on Biofortified is the concept of a ‘pest’, which is a completely anthropocentric term. Different insects can be pests at one part of their life cycle and be totally cool in another. It’s one of those weird science paradoxes…
Imagine that you own a small business selling heirloom seeds. Your most important (and profitable) seeds are from a special open pollinated tomato variety that you painstakingly bred under over the past decade by hand crossing other heirloom varieties and selecting the best of their offspring. These tomatoes are everything a tomato lover dreamed of…
Ever wonder what the heck people mean when they say we need a “Second Green Revolution” or a “Greener Revolution”? There is a unique opportunity to find out! Green Revolution 2.0: Food + Energy and Environmental Security was the theme of this year’s ASA, CSSA, and SSSA 2010 International Annual Meetings that took place 31…
Anastasia and I just got out of a Skype interview with John for Truffle Media, and the question came up, how to visualize a genetically engineered food? As I’m sure you all know when you read articles about genetic engineering, you get all kinds of crazy pictures from this: To this: When the scientific truth…
Before moving to the southern US, I lived in Iowa. If there’s one thing Iowa’s known for, it’s known for our row crops. Everywhere in the summer is green and pretty and filled with all sorts of farmland and not much visible biodiversity outside of that. If you live in certain areas of the south,…
Read More “Why is ecology important to agriculture? Ask the Plataspids.” »
In part 1 of this series, I explained how we’ve been using genetic engineering of sorts for nearly half a century to control insects by using radiation to induce sterility or other dominant lethal mutations in insects. In part 2, I explained how we can use genetic engineering to make these projects safer and easier….
Read More “Genetic modification of insects as pest control part 3” »
There are two very different webcasts that might be of interest to Biofortified readers happening tonight. How do we Feed the Planet? Global Food Security and the Next Century This webcast is the culmination of a semester’s work by freshmen in an MIT class titled Solving Complex Problems. Thanks to Sara Kaplan, a colleague in…
Have you ever cut up an apple to take for lunch, or prepared apples for a fresh fruit tray only to have them turn an unappealing shade of brown? You’re not alone. There’s nothing wrong with brown apple slices, but they certainly don’t look nice, which discourages some people from eating as many apples as…