Agriculture

  1. Animals

    Learning what stresses queen bees could save their hives

    Beehives often die off after the queen gets too stressed to make enough babies. New tests could identify what stressed her — and point to solutions.

    By
  2. Climate

    Student scientists work to help all of us survive a warmer world

    From glaciers in the refrigerator to a rover in the field, here’s how young scientists are looking to help us adapt to climate change.

    By
  3. Agriculture

    Scientists Say: Carbohydrate

    Carbohydrates are molecules with carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Animals break down these chemicals in food to get energy.

    By
  4. Environment

    Pesticides contaminate most food of western U.S. monarchs

    Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweeds. A new study finds widespread pesticide use has tainted these plants across the insect’s western U.S. breeding grounds.

    By
  5. Ecosystems

    Scientists Say: Prairie

    Prairies are flat, fertile grasslands in North America. They are their own unique ecosystem.

    By
  6. Environment

    Let’s learn about rain

    People need rain for their crops and their drinking fountains. But there sometimes can be too much of a good thing.

    By
  7. Plants

    Let’s learn about trees

    These long-lived woody plants provide shade for people, homes for animals — and help protect the planet against climate change.

    By
  8. Ecosystems

    Groundwater pumping is draining rivers and streams worldwide

    Excessive groundwater use could push more than half of the regions that depend on water pumped up from underground aquifers past an environmental tipping point by 2050. That could threaten aquatic ecosystems around the world.

    By
  9. Agriculture

    As infections ravage food crops, scientists fight back

    Diseases threaten important food crops like cocoa beans, wheat and citrus. Scientists are working to understand these infections — and fight back.

    By
  10. Agriculture

    U.S. farmers still use many pesticides that are banned elsewhere

    More than one in four of the pesticide used on U.S. farms in 2016 had been banned in other countries.

    By
  11. Agriculture

    Get ready to eat differently in a warmer world

    Climate change is affecting what we eat, from making crops less productive to making foods less nutritious. Scientists are studying how farmers can adapt.

    By
  12. Tech

    Tarzan the robot was actually inspired by a sloth

    ‘Tarzan’ the robot saves energy by swinging. Someday, it could help with farm work by moving along wires strung across fields of crops.

    By