Nutrigenomics On The Menu In Paris
Ahhh, Paris! City of food and fashion…But the latest trend to hit the food industry is certainly no fad. Personalised nutrition is the ‘new black’ in the world of food. No longer do we need to embarrass ourselves by appearing at the supermarket with a trolley full of identical shopping to our neighbour. Whether or…
Ug99: One Year On
An opportunity here, for me to recap on a post I wrote back in January ’07. Puccinia graminis strain Ug99 has once again hit the headlines and it isn’t good news. The situation in outline is that the Ug99 strain of black rust fungus readily attacks wheat plants, as it resists the most popular rust-resistance…
Death by CAP
How EU economists are ‘killing Europeans through CHD’ Surprisingly, it’s not the acronyms that are at the root of the World Health Organization’s damning accusation, it’s our old friends, saturated fats. The common agricultural policy (CAP) was put in place by the powers that be in Europe, not just to confuse any non-economist who has…
Algae for biofuels: solving the land-use problem
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that there isn’t enough suitable land space to grow crops for food and feed as well as for biofuel, and to retain the forests and other land uses that sequester carbon in huge quantities. As the Nature blog ‘The Great Beyond’ points out, two articles published in Science in February argue…
‘Nano Inside’
Two words that are unlikely to appear in a supermarket near you any time soon. But not because nanotechnology has no application in food – far from it! The reason that the food industry is unlikely to be advertising the widespread applications of nanotechnology, according to Dr. Frans Kampers, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands,…
Organic biofuels?
While discussing biofuels with a colleague the other week, I wondered whether there was any demand for organically grown biofuels, as people interested in protecting the environment are likely to be interested both in biofuels and in organic agriculture. Not long afterwards I came across a record in CAB Abstracts for an article1 on the…
Watch out – there’s a snakehead about!
A giant snakehead (Channa micropeltes) has been caught it British waterways causing alarm amongst anglers. Branded as "Sid Fishious" by the press, the catch featured in this week’s Angler’s Mail article "Killer Frankenfish caught in UK river!" The predatory piscean (all 3lbs of it!) was caught from the River Witham in Lincolnshire. Staff at the…
National Invasive Weed Awareness Week in USA
Sunday marks the beginning of the 9th annual "National Invasive Weeds Awareness Week" over in Washington D.C., USA. Looking at the packed agenda, the week looks to be well supported by all the players in US invasive species research, control and policy sectors. If you can not make any of the meetings and are…
Haemodynamically yours
Planning to woo your beloved with a romantic tête-à-tête this evening? Looking forward to the incomparable moment when your eyes meet in the flickering candlelight over that bottle of expensive red wine you ordered to get you both in the mood for love? At this point if you can tear your eyes away from the…
From Kenya with love…
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander is urging UK consumers to buy Kenyan flowers today. Given the unrest in the country, flower producers have had to work extra hard to ensure flowers reached the market in time for Valentine’s Day. Kenya is a leading exporter of cut flowers, roses in particular, and the UK is one…