One World – One Environment – One Network
Researchers from MIT have developed analytical tools to enable next-generation agriculture by using engineered plant nanosensors and portable Raman spectroscopy. According to United Nations estimates, the global population is expected to grow by 2 billion within...
Roots play a vital role in crop plants. They take up water and nutrients for the plant and help keep it firmly in the ground. Breeding is a way to improve how crops perform...
Fertiliser and pesticide used in agriculture are the largest source of sulfur in the environment. Amounts are up to 10 times higher than the peak sulfur load seen in the second half of the...
Insect declines and extinctions are accelerating in many parts of the world, the consequences of which are unpredictable. A group of scientists from across the globe has now united to warn humanity of such dangers. Humanity...
Without insect pollination, many plant species – including crops – cannot reproduce. Bumble bees are of particular importance, but as new research shows, their livelihood could be affected by malnutrition. Bees are an important...
Between 2005 and 2016, the shift away from coal saved an estimated 26,610 lives and 570 million bushels of crops. The decommissioning of coal-fired power plants in the continental United States has reduced nearby...
New research shows that climate change has already affected production of the world’s top 10 crops – barley, cassava, maize, oil palm, rapeseed, rice, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane and wheat. And some regions and countries...
The six trillion cigarettes produced every year gobble up finite resources, impacting the environment through climate change, water use and toxicity, a new study has warned. A single smoker depletes 1.4 million litres of...
Researchers have found that seawater can replace freshwater to make the sustainable fuel bioethanol, reducing the extremely high water footprint associated with production. Bioethanol is one of the best fuel alternatives because it is...
Bumblebees living in urban areas outbreed those in the countryside, a new study has revealed. Colonies in agricultural areas produced significantly fewer reproductive offspring. City-dwelling bumblebees fare better than their countryside cousins, with...
A new method using modern radar capabilities could make weather forecasting much more accurate. The method can account for evaporation. Rainfall forecasts are often flawed due to their failure to take into account factors...
EU member states have agreed to ban insecticides that are known to be harmful to wild and honeybees from all fields. The ban is expected to come into force by the end of 2018....
Climate-related extreme weather events like the hurricane trio of Harvey, Irma and Maria or the severe flooding in South Asia have cost the insurance industry a record amount in 2017. The insurance industry is...
Bioplastics are not yet the silver bullet to our society’s plastic problem. In addition to problems related to pollution and biodegradability, the land required to produce them competes with food production, according to a...
A new drip irrigation design for watering crops could halve the amount of energy required by solar-powered systems. It brings cost-effectiveness, too, putting the system in reach of more farmers. Many farms in drought-prone...
Farmers could produce more food with the same amount of water by optimising rain use and irrigation, according a new study. The findings could substantially reduce hunger in the face of population growth and...
A decline in bee numbers across America is threatening the nation’s crop production, recent research suggests. The first national study to map U.S. wild bees shows that numbers declined in 23 per cent of...
Extreme weather events such as heat waves and droughts but also longer cold periods will occur more frequently in the future, scientists warned at a conference in Paris. They want world leaders at the...
Subterranean biodiversity can have a positive effect on the nutrient efficiency of maize and wheat, Zurich researchers have shown. Their discovery could lead to the reduction of the high costs associated with fertilisers. The...
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that global food prices have declined largely as a result of a drop in cereal and vegetable oil prices. But conflicts and adverse weather continue to...
