Yearly Archives: 2016

|2016

The race to create super-crops

Jonathan Lynch likes to look beneath the surface. In his quest to breed better crops, the plant physiologist spends a lot of time digging up roots to work out what makes some varieties extremely good at extracting nutrients from the ground. Lynch wants to use this knowledge to develop plants with extra-efficient roots — crops [...]

By |2019-12-08T11:43:35+08:00May 19th, 2016|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Automated farming: good news for food security, bad news for job security?

Around the world, but especially in the developing world, food and farming systems continue to rely on 20th century technology. But this is changing. The same information technologies that brought us the internet and transformations in medicine are now revolutionising farming. It’s a new era for agriculture and it’s taking off in at least two [...]

By |2019-12-08T11:43:35+08:00April 12th, 2016|Uncategorized|0 Comments

University of Copenhagen have discovered reverse photosynthesis

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a natural process they describe as reverse photosynthesis. In the process, the energy in solar rays breaks down, rather than builds plant material, as is the case with photosynthesis. The sunlight is collected by chlorophyll, the same molecule as used in photosynthesis. Combined with a specific enzyme [...]

By |2019-12-08T11:48:20+08:00April 5th, 2016|Copenhagen, Uncategorized, University|0 Comments

Asian nations get sweet on soda taxes

Some of Asia’s biggest soda-guzzling nations are preparing to impose taxes on fizzy drinks, following similar moves in France, certain US states and Mexico. The $560bn global soda industry has come under attack worldwide as doctors and policymakers fret about the mounting toll — on health as well as government coffers — of obesity and [...]

By |2019-12-08T11:43:35+08:00February 15th, 2016|Uncategorized|0 Comments

The coconut (the fruit of the palm Cocos nucifera) is the Swiss Army knife of the plant kingdom; in one neat package it provides a high-calorie food, potable water, fiber that can be spun into rope, and a hard shell that can be turned into charcoal. What’s more, until it is needed for some other purpose it serves as a handy flotation device.

No wonder people from ancient Austronesians to Captain Bligh pitched a few coconuts aboard before setting sail. (The mutiny of the Bounty is supposed to have been triggered by Bligh's harsh punishment of the theft of coconuts from the ship's store.) So extensively is the history of the coconut interwoven with the history of people [...]

By |2019-12-08T11:43:35+08:00February 1st, 2016|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Hybrids in the Coconut Industry Road Map

Hybrids in the Coconut Industry Road Map by Dr. Emil Javier October 24, 2015 ‘There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?’ – Robert Kennedy Even as the Supreme Court deliberates on the injunction against the Executive Orders [...]

By |2019-12-08T11:43:35+08:00January 28th, 2016|Uncategorized|0 Comments