Come up and look at my genes
While most geneticists may have a hard time convincing non-scientists to look at DNA gels, a company is offering DNA art portraits which allow customers to show off their own DNA bands to anyone. The “DNA portraits” point to bands which the company says are associated with particular characteristics as follows: “• Sport: Show off…
Could new biofuel crops become invasive?
According to a blog I read in the New York Times (NYT) online this could be the case. Following evidence that biofuel crops compete with food crops, defenders of farm grown crops say the eventual goal is to shift away from sources like maize toward plants harvested for their cellulose, which would end…
Perhaps some dinosaurs died of malaria
Back in January I wrote about the book ‘What bugged the dinosaurs? Insects, Disease and Death in the Cretaceous‘, by George and Roberta Poinar (click here to read what I said then). We have now obtained a copy for indexing for CAB Abstracts, and I have had a chance to take a quick look at…
Biodiversity – The more the merrier!
May 22nd is the International Day for Biological Diversity 2008. This year’s theme is ‘Biodiversity in Agriculture‘. According to the Convention on Biodiversity who are co-promoting the day’s festivities along with such luminaries of food and nutrition as the FAO, modern food production is responsible for both increasing and decreasing biodiversity. One of the things…
The International Day for Biological Diversity – 22 May 2008
Biodiversity and Agriculture is the theme for 2008’s International Day for Biological Diversity. Agriculture is a key example of how human activities have profound impacts on the ecosystems of our planet. This year’s day seeks to highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture not only to preserve biodiversity, but also to ensure that we will be…
Vera Barbosa
Dr Vera Barbosa Content Editor, Environmental Science Team I’ve just re-joined CABI, having worked here previously, as a Scientific Information Officer in the Crop Protection Team, using my agricultural science background, from 1989-90, when I left to start a family. I continued working for CABI for many years as a freelance abstractor of the Spanish…
Convention on Biological Diversity
Thanks to Luigi over at Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog for this quick note. The COP9 meeting is currently in session in Bonn, Germany from 19 to 30 May 2008. Among the topics on the agenda is agricultural biodiversity and plant conservation. You can watch some of the sessions online if you can not get to the…
English wildlife “under siege”!
I was a bit surprised this morning to hear on the radio that England’s wildlife is "under siege" – this seemed a little melodramatic straight after news stories of China’s earthquake victims. Still, it did catch my attention. They were talking about the results of Natural England’s State of the Natural Environment report published today.…
Be KIND to nettles
AS an avid reader of fairytales in my youth, I was always intrigued by the story of the seven ravens. Seven princely brothers condemned to be ravens by day can only be rescued if their beautiful sister is prepared to pick nettles, barehanded, spin them into thread and weave the lot into seven shirts. Unfortunately…
Biodiversity suffers as resource use increases
More than a quarter of the world’s biodiversity has been lost in the last 35 years according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report, compiled by the Zoological Society London (ZSL).