Agriculture
CRISPR could eradicate horrific parasite that’s killing cattle
Uruguay is developing a CRISPR gene drive to eradicate the New World screwworm fly, a horrific agricultural pest.
New CRISPR tomatoes need less watering
Gene-edited tomatoes that can grow with less water could help solve the problem of feeding a world battling increased water scarcity.
Tastier nonalchoholic beer is here – will you drink it?
To some people, nonalcoholic beer sounds like an oxymoron, but newer techniques are producing tasty, high-quality options.
Zapping plants in “eSoil” makes them grow 50% larger
Using a new “eSoil” to electrically stimulate plants during hydroponic farming could potentially increase crop yields.
This startup wants to track soil carbon with AI and satellites
Boomitra’s remote sensing technology combines data from Earth and space to verify when carbon is coming out of the air.
Exposing plants to an unusual chemical early on may bolster their growth and help feed the world
"Priming" plants by exposing them to certain chemicals while they’re seeds can affect their growth later in life.
CRISPR protects 9 out of 10 chickens from bird flu
UK scientists have used CRISPR to create gene-edited chickens that are highly resistant to the avian flu virus.
Adding spider DNA to silkworms creates silk stronger than Kevlar
Spider silk is strong and tough, but hard to farm. Silkworm silk is easy to farm, but not that strong. What if we could combine the two?
Is this plant the protein food of the future?
Over the past 50 years or so, lupins have become more common as food for farm animals, and are also increasingly eaten by humans
Mutant tomato could save crops around the world
A mutant tomato breed, known to botanists for decades, is highly resilient against blossom-end rot, a notorious plant disease.