United in Science: We are heading in the wrong direction
Reading Time: 3 minutesGENEVA: Climate science is clear: we are heading in the wrong direction, according to a new multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which highlights the huge gap between aspirations and reality. Without much more ambitious action, the physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change will be increasingly devastating, it warns. The report, United […]
USM-Petronas join hands to offer carbon dioxide mitigation
Reading Time: 2 minutesUNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA (USM) through the School of Chemical Engineering and the School of Mechanical Engineering, has entered a research and technological collaboration with Petronas. The project entitled ‘Conversion of CO2 and Petcoke to Fuel Gas (Carbon Monoxide and Syngas) Using Microwave Heating’ is in line with CO2 mitigation plans, which seek ways to develop long-term strategies for […]
Methane from agricultural activities
Reading Time: 2 minutesBY SALMINA BARVIN BT MD SAMEENUDEEN AGRICULTURE sustains humanity and provides livelihoods for over 800 million people—27 percent of the global workforce. But many agricultural practices emit a substantial amount of greenhouse gases, including large amounts of methane, which is many times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming our planet and adds to dangerous air […]
Zooplankton under serious threat from climate change
Reading Time: 3 minutesBY DR NURUL HUDA AHMAD ISHAK RISING temperatures pose a high risk to marine and coastal ecosystems. This is a well-recognised fact. More than half of the world’s marine species may be now standing on the brink of extinction by 2100. The climate and ocean are closely linked. When oceans get hotter, they can hold more […]
Higher temperatures make it difficult for fig tree pollinators
Reading Time: 2 minutesRESEARCHERS from Uppsala University and elsewhere have been studying the effect of rising temperatures on the lifespan of pollinating fig wasps. The findings show that the wasps lived much shorter lives at high temperatures, which would make it difficult for them to travel the long distances between the trees they pollinate. Fig trees are very important […]
Improving country’s food production: Issues and policy responses
Reading Time: 3 minutes BY PROF DATUK M NASIR SHAMSUDIN THE food sector in the country is facing major challenges that will persist for the next decades. These include providing sufficient food to meet the growing population and rising per capita income as well as dietary changes, eradicating hunger and food insecurity. The sector is also influenced […]
Asian agbio players convene under ISAAA/MABIC platform
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY Ts. DR MAHALETCHUMY ARUJANAN & SAARANI VENGADESEN WILL working tirelessly in the laboratories result in GM crops being released into the hands of farmers, subsequently relieving their world from grappling with food insecurity? It is time for scientists to understand the invisible hands that move the needles when it comes to the approval and […]
Risk of multiple climate tipping points escalates above 1.5°C global warming
Reading Time: 3 minutesMULTIPLE climate tipping points could be triggered if global temperature rises beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to a major new analysis published in the journal Science. Even at current levels of global heating the world is already at risk of passing five dangerous climate tipping points, and risks increase with each tenth of a degree […]
Heat and humidity, the life-threatening twins
Reading Time: 2 minutesWITH the rising effects of climate change, heat waves have become more severe and intolerable around the world, posing dangerous health issues such as heat exhaustion, heat strokes, severe dehydration, and heat cramps which could even be fatal. Many places around the world have registered record-breaking high temperatures this year such as India, the UK, […]
From food scraps to fine dining cuisines
Reading Time: 3 minutesAT a recent US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) conference in Singapore, international delegates were feasting on “food scraps” during one of the official dinners. Eggshells, soy by-products from tofu processing, coconut chaff, and fruit peels were just some of the “food scraps”. None complained, cringed, or were even skeptical. In fact, everyone was full of […]