Genetic and stem cell technologies are on the cusp of letting us clone even infertile endangered animals when intact DNA is available. And some extinct species could be brought back by tweaking the genome of a living close relative. It should also be possible to engineer lost traits into a population. Some targeted animals are …
Continue reading ‘Some good news, and then some not-so-good news, for 2017’ »
There is a computerised melody- making software , developed at the University of California, Santa Cruz, called ALYSIA, that is unusual in taking lyrics as its starting point and adding an automated tune. The system matches the metre of the melody with that of the lyrics. The originators hope to create a system capable of …
Thanks to genetic modification a new strain of wheat is being grown in greenhouses, with yields up by 15 to 20 per cent, a team at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK, recently announced. The researchers have asked the government for permission to carry out field trials in the spring. If the plants produce anything like a …
Continue reading ‘Some hopeful news for this day of the year’ »
Indiscriminate fertiliser use hurts the soil itself, turning it acidic and salty, suppressing the symbiotic relationships between fungi and plant roots, sometimes turning beneficial bacteria against each other. Long-term use of fertilisers risks turning even fertile soil to desert. What can be done? One possible solution is being pursued by Carlos Monreal of Carleton University in Ottawa, …
Continue reading ‘Depleting the soil (no.2): promising news’ »
We are losing soil at a rate of 30 soccer fields a minute. If we don’t slow the decline, all farmable soil could be gone in 60 years. Soil grows 95 per cent of our food and sustains human life in other more surprising ways, so this is a huge problem. “Many would argue soil …
