Multiple factors determining policy decisions on science
Reading Time: 3 minutesTHIS is what I always tell my students: “Decisions on science are not solely made based on scientific facts but politics, emotions, ethics, religious norms and trade issues.” To understand this better, read the article on how nuclear energy reduces the CO2 footprint which we publish on page 3 of this issue. France reduced its […]
Under threat
Reading Time: 3 minutesROME: The first-ever report of its kind presents mounting and worrying evidence that the biodiversity that underpins our food systems is disappearing – putting the future of our food, livelihoods, health and environment under severe threat. Once lost, warns FAO’s State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture report, launched today, biodiversity for food and agriculture – i.e. all the species that support our food systems and sustain […]
Antarctica losing six times more ice mass annually now than 40 years ago
Reading Time: < 1 minuteANTARCTICA experienced a sixfold increase in yearly ice mass loss between 1979 and 2017, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Glaciologists from the University of California, Irvine, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Netherlands’ Utrecht University additionally found that the accelerated melting caused global sea levels to rise more than half an inch during that time. “That’s just the tip […]
Climate change and infertility
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRISING temperatures could make some species sterile and see them succumb to the effects of climate change earlier than currently thought, scientists at the University of Liverpool warn. “There is a risk that we are underestimating the impact of climate change on species survival because we have focused on the temperatures that are lethal to organisms, rather than the temperatures at which organisms can no longer […]
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 […]
MPOB: Oil palm a more viable cash crop
Reading Time: 2 minutesKUALA LUMPUR: Being the most widely used and traded cash crop in the world and yet the most controversial, palm oil is here to stay. Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Director General Datuk Ahmad Kushairi Din said this at the recently concluded 14th International Symposium on Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology (ISBAB 2018) in Kuala Lumpur […]
Indonesia’s first GM crop to hit the market
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE government of Indonesia has approved the first locally developed genetically modified crop which will soon be commercialised in the country. The biotech sugarcane event NXI-4T which contains the betaine gene was developed by the state-owned sugar company, PT Perkebunan Nusantara XI (PTPN XI). The gene expressed osmoprotectant compound which was introduced using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated […]
‘Give us this day our daily bread’
Reading Time: < 1 minutePope on World Food Day POPE FRANCIS on Oct 16, which is World Food Day (WFD) embraced the theme of the event: Our actions are our future: A Zero Hunger world by 2030 is possible. The Holy Father’s words came in a letter to Prof José Graziano da Silva Director General of the Food and […]
Rethinking Malaysia’s energy vision
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY DR MOHD SYUKRI YAHYA NUCLEAR POWER was Malaysia’s last energy option during Tun Dr Mahathir’s first tenure as prime minister. The policy was rescinded by his two successors, who studied nuclear as a possible part of our energy mix in the peninsula. However, now that Dr Mahathir is back at the helm, nuclear power […]