New Peruvian potato variety to help in fight against child anemia
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIN DECEMBER last year, the Agriculture Minister in Peru publicly presented a new purple flesh potato variety with higher than normal concentrations of iron and zinc. The potato is believed to become an important help in the fight against child anemia in the Andes. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] Agriculture Minister Gustavo Mostajo told Peruvian radio station RPP that the new potato was bred and developed […]
Researchers develop self-contained planters that grow in space
Reading Time: 2 minutesFRESH food is so attractive to astronauts that they toasted with salad when they were able to cultivate a few lettuce heads on the International Space Station three years ago. In 2021, beans are on the menu to be grown in space, planted in high-tech planters developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology […]
Scientists apply gene editing on Chinese kale
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBRASSICA vegetables are economically important vegetables with high nutritional value. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene editing has been demonstrated in several crops but not in Brassica vegetables. For the first time, researcher Haoru Tang from Sichuan Agricultural University in China and colleagues demonstrate the applicability of CRISPR-Cas9 in editing genes in Chinese kale, a Brassica vegetable that has […]
World govts set targets for sustainability development by 2050
Reading Time: < 1 minuteONE HUNDRED and ninety-six Governments have agreed to scale up investments for sustainable development and harmonious coexistence of all life on Earth by 2050. This was during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference held from Nov 17-29, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Addressing the convention, His Excellency, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of […]
FAO supports farming in refugee camps
Reading Time: 3 minutes“MY LIFE IS SO DIFFERENT NOW,” says 23-year-old Scofia Sadik Mandera, with a big smile on her face. “We have vegetables to eat, we have a balanced diet. I have more energy.” Over the past year, Scofia has grown her own kitchen garden – one of more than 7, 000 in the Kalobeyei refugee camp in northern Kenya. Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, as the camp is formally […]
‘Give science its rightful place at global summits’
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe Petri Dish Editor-in-Chief MAHALETCHUMY ARUJANAN who attended the recently concluded UN Biodiversity Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, says such meetings set the direction and basis for national laws, bilateral mechanisms and international trade in relation to modern biotechnology – but unwittingly cast science in the backseat. THE Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Cartagena Protocol […]
Bidayuh folk consume medicinal plants worth RM32k
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE value of traditional medicinal plants consumed by the Bidayuh native community in Sarawak each year is notably substantial at about RM32,300 (US$7,600) annually. This is according to a survey carried by a team of researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas). “This figure is quite significant and reflects the importance of the resources provided by […]
The Lion’s Mane mushroom, culinary and curative
Reading Time: 3 minutesBY DR WONG KAH HUI EDIBLE mushrooms represent an untapped source of nutraceuticals. They are treasured as functional food that can improve our health and quality of life. Mushroom-based functional food are products from mycelia or the fruiting bodies of mushrooms and are being utilised by traditional physicians, herbalists, naturopathic practitioners, chiropractors, acupuncturists and herbal […]
Indonesia’s Bt sugarcane sees the light of day
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe Petri Dish editor-in-chief Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan hosted an email Q&A with Prof Bambang Sugiharto (BS) and Dr Agus Pakpahan (AP) who were both involved in the development of the country’s first biotech crop. Bambang is from the Center for Development of Advanced Science and Technology (CDAST) and Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and […]
Changing temperatures help corn production in US
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE past 70 years have been good for corn production in the midwestern United States, with yields increasing fivefold since the 1940s. Much of this improvement has been credited to advances in farming technology but researchers at Harvard University are asking if changes in climate and local temperature may be playing a bigger role than […]