No go for the GM Danio
Last week tropical fishkeepers in New Zealand were alerted to the presence of GM zebra danios available for sale online. The fish, which have been engineered to produce fluorescent proteins, are not authorised for sale in NZ and biosecurity officials have said that any fish traced would be collected and put down. The fish known…
Organic tomatoes – better for your heart?
Having carried out organic farming research for three years prior to joining CABI, my attention is always grabbed by comparisons between organic and ‘conventional’ agriculture. The size of the organic food market continues to grow (the global organic food and drink market was projected to generate revenues of US$40 bn in 2006, according to British…
Vicki Bonham
Dr Vicki Bonham Content Editor, Plant Sciences My background is in plant sciences with a BSc in botany and PhD in plant molecular biology. I spent 6 years working as a research fellow at the University of Reading on projects varying from searching for the ultimate birch tree (anatomically speaking) to making biodegradable packaging from…
Katherine Cameron
Katherine CameronContent Editor (Environmental Sciences) & Mapping Coordinator My interest in the environmental sciences developed whilst I was studying Biological Sciences as an undergraduate at Oxford University where I specialised in Environmental Sciences and Animal Sciences. I carried out a fieldwork project in my final year looking at the use of hedgerows by insects and…
Soil, a potential large scale carbon store
We have all heard in the news that to tackle climate change, greenhouse-gas emissions must be reduced on a global scale. Fossil fuel emissions still remain the largest contributor to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, therefore reducing their contribution to global energy is key1. However, as this is a process that can not be done overnight,…
David Hemming
Dr David Hemming Editor, CAB ReviewsI’ve been writing news about agricultural biotechnology since I joined CABI in 1988, following a genetics PhD at the University of Liverpool. It’s always been a fascinating area, at a scientific level and in terms of the responses to the technology. While working at CABI I took a Diploma in…
Tim Holmes
Dr Timothy Holmes Business Innovations Executive As part of the Business Innovations Team at CABI, I look for new and interesting ways to apply technologies to the activities of our not-for-profit organisation. The CABI blog is an exciting channel that we can use to communicate with our customers. I came to CABI from a science…
Philip Roberts
Dr Philip Roberts Editor, Content Development (Environmental Sciences) I have always been interested in nature conservation, ecology and environmental management. Ever since school I volunteered at my local nature reserve. I then went on to study for a B.Sc. Environmental Science and Environmental Geography, at the University of Bradford. This was the first course that…
Gareth Richards
Dr Gareth RichardsEditor, CABI Compendium Program I’ve been an Editor in CABI’s Compendium Programme for the past seven years. With a degree in zoology and following up on my interests in fish (aquarium, sports, and I like eating them too), I completed my PhD (at Liverpool University, UK) on Gyrodactylus spp. parasites of poeciliid fishes…
Climate change clock ticking for wild relatives
International Biodiversity Day is here, and CGIAR brings us news that climate change threatens the wild relatives of cultivated potatoes and peanuts. The CGIAR study warns that 61% of wild peanut and 12% of wild potato species could be made extinct over the next half century. This poses a problem for plant breeders and GM…