Jam – is it junk?
Have you ever wondered whether jam contains anything healthy? Fruits and vegetables are chock full of antioxidants and other wonderful cancer fighters, but is it all lost when you make jam? I wrote about this for Nutrition and Food Sciences Database recently because a paper in Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture has some…
Polar bear’s epic nine-day swim
(image from CABI Images) Whilst browsing through my Facebook friends’ status update, I came across a post of a recent news report in the BBC Earth News webpage reporting that a polar bear swam continuously for over nine days, covering 687 km, and then intermittently swam and walked on the sea ice surface an additional…
Redesigning the global food system
Two weeks ago I wrote on Hand picked about a Worldwatch Institute report on how agricultural innovations could help to feed our growing population. This week saw the launch of another major report on global food security. The report by Foresight, the UK Government's futures think tank, argues for fundamental change to the global food…
Nourishing the planet: Agricultural innovations to feed the world
With nearly a billion people still undernourished, and the global population projected to hit 7 billion later this year, the world continues to grapple with the issues of how to feed our growing population. Changing dietary patterns in countries such as China as the population becomes more affluent, and diversion of some agricultural land for…
Talking up the humble apple
Photo: Robert Taylor After moving house recently I gained a tree full of Bramley apples, a variety used for cooking. This autumn I stored some, ate quite a lot and gave away more. Now as January wears on I still have loads that won't keep much longer. Our apple consumption has increased. My colleagues' and…
Off the bee-ten track
When I was at university and my professor’s papers were published in a journal, he would crack open a bottle of champagne, but I imagined that something a little softer was shared amongst the recently-published researchers of ‘Blackawton Bees’ in Biology Letters, because they are 8 to 10 years old!
Sudden Oak Death – the ‘foot and mouth’ of trees
Hundreds of thousands of trees are being felled in the UK to try and prevent spread of Sudden Oak Death. The disease, caused by the fungus Phytophthora ramorum, came to the UK in 2003 via imported plants from America where it mainly infects oaks. European species of oak have a high resistance to the disease…
Recipe to mitigate Climate Change in 182 steps
Protect Our Water and Environment Resources (POWER), a North Halton Hill’s environmental organization, has released a 32-page online publication listing 182 steps that we can take in the home and on the move (transportation) to mitigate global warming and climate change. The publication explains, in a clear and accessible language, the reasons for adopting each…
How will climate change affect plant health?
As weather patterns shift around the world due to changing climates, so this brings new challenges to crop protection. Pests and diseases can become a problem in new areas, or appear earlier, making it necessary to change crop protection practices. Conversely, some pests and diseases may become less of a problem as conditions become less…
Would you miss the mistletoe?
I was thinking “what shall I write about in my Christmas blog?” I then remembered a news item I heard in one of the BBC radio stations about the mistletoe being under threat of disappearing from our landscape. I searched for the news item in their news webpage and found it still there. The article…