Soil – the neglected gold
Reading Time: 4 minutes“IT takes close to 200 years to form one cm of soil in the tropics and the process is even slower in the temperate regions,” says Dr Jeyanny Vijayanathan, a soil scientist at Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). Jeyanny who advocates environmental awareness says: “We cannot reverse soil erosion that is happening for centuries now, […]
Can editing help to resolve food security issues?
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY DR SADEQUR RAHMAN AT the centre of all our lives is the necessity of getting enough food, which is more imperative than ever. Our population is almost eight billion and space on our planet is limited. How will we manage to avoid famines and social chaos? It may seem a hopeless task, given all the […]
Homegrown red rice making waves in local stores
Reading Time: 4 minutesINDULGING in research and unleashing innovative ideas is the ultimate goal of any scientist. What develops in the petri dish must translate into products that can be retailed in the market for the benefit of society. For this to be a reality, scientists need business skills and a natural mindset to move their research outcomes […]
Aquaculture: The Good, The Bad and the Restorative
Reading Time: 3 minutesBY DR ANNETTE JAYA RAM, DR ABE WOO SAU PINN, DR AILEEN TAN SHAU-HWAI CENTRE for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS) at Universiti Sains Malaysia is deep in research on cultivating bivalves and seaweeds as natural bio-remediators, to reverse the adverse effects of unchecked aquaculture farming. Penang’s aquaculture sector, though a thriving global export industry […]
Movie review: ‘Food Evolution’
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY KEVIN FOLTA LAST year a Pew Research poll gauged public sentiment toward genetic engineering of food crops (familiarly, ‘GMO’). The results showed that while the public is consumed with fear and suspicion, scientists view the technology as safe and effective. This divide may be due to the deep presence of non-scientific websites, books and […]
How GM crops can help us to feed a fast-growing world
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY STUART THOMPSON The United Nations forecasts global population to rise to more than nine billion people by 2050. Climate change may mean that the crops we depend on now may no longer be suited to the areas where they are currently cultivated and may increasingly be threatened by droughts, floods and the spread of plant […]
Bangladesh agriculture leaders keen to adopt biotech cotton
Reading Time: 2 minutesBangladesh,the first country to plant biotech eggplant, is ready to adopt biotech cotton. This was expressed by the research and development leaders of the country during the seminar launch of ISAAA’s Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops for 2016, held on July 9, at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in Dhaka. Chief Guest Additional […]
Part of rice we don’t eat may be highly nutritious
Reading Time: 2 minutesRICE BRAN, the outer covering of the rice grain, has high nutritional value and is a rich source of proteins, fats, minerals and micro nutrients such as B vitamins, according to a study published in the open access journal Rice. Researchers at Colorado State University suggest that rice bran, which is removed from whole grain […]
Authorise and support GMOs, science and innovation, says advocacy group
Reading Time: 2 minutesBRUSSELS: It is time for the EU to authorise GMOs as well as support science & innovation, says the Brussels-based advocacy group, Europabio. The group is urging European decision-makers to play by the rules and endorse the evidence. This is in view of the expected vote on March 27, by EU member states on whether […]
Can technology-enabled urban farms be a winner for S’pore?
Reading Time: 4 minutesSINGAPORE needs to deepen its interests in food production, not just consumption, with strategic partners like Australia. One approach to this is redirecting some of its tech, digital strategies and sharing of IP to scaling up smart food zones based on technology-enabled farming (TEF). Agricultural technology – or agtech – has become a billion-dollar industry. […]