Agriculture
- Agriculture
Robots will control everything you eat
Robots are now being introduced into all phases of how food is grown and prepared. In the future, though, they will be common.
- Plants
Explainer: The fertilizing power of N and P
Two elements — nitrogen and phosphorus — help plants grow. When the soil doesn’t have them, farmers might add them in the form of fertilizer.
- Agriculture
Scientists Say: Domestication
Domestication is the process of deliberately taking a wild organism — a plant or animal for instance — and making it a part of our daily lives.
- Animals
Bee hotels are open for business
Bee hotels are creating a buzz in conservation and research by offering nesting places for wild bees.
- Agriculture
Sheep poop may spread poisonous weed
Fireweed is a poisonous plant in Australia. Sheep can eat it without hurting themselves. But a teen found those sheep may be spreading more weeds.
- Agriculture
Teen converts water pollutant into a plant fertilizer
Too much phosphate can fuel algal growth, which can rob oxygen from the water. This can suffocate fish and other wildlife. Stefan Wan found a way to collect that pollutant, which can later be used as a farm nutrient.
- Animals
Wild hamsters raised on corn eat their young alive
European hamsters raised in the lab turn into crazy cannibals when fed a diet rich in corn, new data show. The problem may trace to a shortage of a key vitamin.
- Genetics
World’s tallest corn towers nearly 14 meters
Short nights and a genetic tweak helped novel corn reach record heights.
- Agriculture
Teen develops water-saving pods for seeds
In California’s drought, every drop of water counts. A teen developed a capsule to keep sprouting seeds wet and reduce water use.
- Agriculture
Bananas under attack: Understanding their foes
Fungal blights threaten the world’s most popular fruit. But genetic studies hint at new ways to combat some of these diseases.
- Agriculture
Sneaky! Virus sickens plants, but helps them multiply
The cucumber mosaic virus helps tomato plants lure pollinators. When the plants multiply, the virus now gets new hosts.
- Archaeology
The first farmers were two groups, not one
The humans that began farming 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent may have been two cultures living side-by-side.
