Can weeds be our friends?
A recent post on the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog by Luigi set me thinking (ouch!) about water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), weeds in general and the useful things it’s possible to do with them. Luigi tells us about a magazine rack that he bought in Nairobi that was made from fibres of the invasive aquatic weed. It’s…
Trans fats — the wrong target?
Trans fats. I keep seeing them in the news: New York restaurants have banned them, McDonalds as well, but how much effect is this likely to have on the public’s health? In my opinion attention would be better focussed on the daily diet not on eating out and on saturated fat not trans fat. Trans…
UK hopeful Bird flu has been contained
Following the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza at a turkey farm in Holton, Suffolk, there is hope that the situation is under control. The cull of all 159,000 turkeys on the Bernard Matthews farm is now complete and an extensive clean-up operation is in progress. The disease appears to have been restricted to a single…
Measuring out their lives in coffee spoons
Many of us sit down with a cup of coffee and surf the internet for news on the environment; however, our daily latte may be harbouring an environmental disaster all of its very own. It appears that illegally-grown coffee plantations have begun to encroach on the natural habitats of the Sumatran rhino, tiger and elephant.…
Tortilla crisis: how green fuel may be harming Mexico’s poor
In the face of global warming which is now acknowledged by almost all to be at least partly man-made, and of high oil prices and worries about dependence on imports from politically unstable regions, the idea of renewable energy from plants seems a very attractive one. Biofuels aren’t at risk from political upheaval or terrorism,…
‘I love you like meat loves salt’
For a long time it was assumed that salt was a necessary additive in food processing, especially meat. In fact, the food industry resisted calls to reduce its use of salt for many years, often launching scathing attacks disputing the mounting evidence that it was bad for us. The quote above, in case you’re interested…
The hypertension controversy
Suggesting that there might be controversy in the link between salt intake and hypertension in itself might seem a little controversial, given the vast amount of media attention that our salt intake has received over recent years. But controversial it is. Some 45 published papers on ‘salt and hypertension’ were uploaded onto the CAB Abstracts…
Whitefly and Virus Team Tactics
The notorius ‘B’-biotype whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, can act as a vector for viruses, transmitting them between plants as it feeds. Nothing new there? Yes actually, in an interesting twist, researchers at Zhejiang University, China have found that certain viruses repay the favour by increasing whitefly performance on the infected plant. Comparisons of B whitefly fecundity…
Slick seabirds
Since the MSC Napoli ran into difficulties two weeks ago, it’s not only the coastguard and Swedish emigrants who are having to repair the damage done. One RSPCA centre had received more than 420 birds by Wednesday morning and up to 10,000 are expected. Rescued guillemots are being given specialist care although many have been…
Goodbye Barbaro
Champion U.S. racehorse Barbaro has been euthanized this week following a battle to recover from injuries sustained last May. The Thoroughbred fractured his leg in three places in a race shortly after a stunning victory at the Kentucky Derby, which he won by the biggest margin in 60 years. Barbaro’s progress following surgery has captured…