Asian agbio players convene under ISAAA/MABIC platform
BY 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 […]
From food scraps to fine dining cuisines
AT 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 […]
Soil – the neglected gold
“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?
BY 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
INDULGING 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
BY 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’
BY 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
BY 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
Bangladesh,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
RICE 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 […]