Scientific World

Forestry

Although many modelling forecasts and government policies suggest that forests must be destroyed to make way for agriculture and provide food security as the global population soars from 7.8 billion to meet U.N.…

more

Plant protection

Researchers in China have discovered a chemical compound that causes solitary locusts to form massive swarms. 4VA, as the chemical is known for short, could represent a breakthrough in combating locust plagues and…

more

Environment

Environmental policy decisions are often based on so-called tipping points. An international research now reveals that such tipping points are hardly detectable in environmental data. The team concludes this from an…

more

Agroecology

With the severe impacts that climate change is having on food security and nutrition, there is an urgent call for more sustainable and climate-resilient food systems. The quest for sustainable solutions is gaining…

more

cyanide-free cassava
Plant breeding

To make cyanide-free cassava a reality, researchers at the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) in Berkeley, USA, are using CRISPR genome editing to block the production of cyanide.

more

Soils

A breakthrough in how soils are analysed, known as soil spectroscopy, is equipping both farmers and government decision-makers with a new tool in combatting land degradation and improving farmers' crop yields and income.

more

Water

Most developing countries discharge around 95 per cent of wastewater untreated, causing pollution of the environment and of drinking water. Low-cost constructed wetlands technology is urgently required a Danish study…

more

Rural development

The population of Africa will probably double to 2.6 billion by 2050. Progress in development is needed to slow this growth. A new study shows that good approaches and projects are on hand. Africa is getting ready for…

more

Health

In Africa, the tsetse fly, carrier of sleeping sickness, has so far been attacked with insecticides or caught in traps, Bioscientists at Frankfurt University have developed a process using a biotechnological technique to…

more

Climate change

Seagrass meadows can be a powerful nature-based climate solution and help sustain communities hard-hit by stressors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of seagrasses is highlighted in a new report, Out of the…

more