Lettuce show you how to restore oil-soaked soil
4th February 2019
Rice University engineers have figured out how soil contaminated by heavy oil can not only be cleaned but made fertile again.
How do they know it works? They grew lettuce.
News
Microbes hitched to insects provide a rich source of new antibiotics
4th February 2019
In an exhaustive search of microbes from more than 1,400 insects collected from diverse environments across North and South America, a research team found that insect-borne microbes often outperformed soil bacteria in stopping some of the most common and dangerous antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
Medicine was transformed in the 20th century by the discovery and development of antibiotics, the vast majority of which came from one source: soil bacteria.
Prairie strips transform farmland conservation
31st January 2019
Modern agriculture's outputs can be measured both in dollars paid in the market and also in non-market costs, known as externalities. Soil, nutrients, groundwater, pollinators, wildlife diversity, and habitat (among other things) can be lost when crop yields are maximized. Now it appears that prairie strips have an extraordinary power to change this pattern.
Combating desertification in the EU: a growing threat in need of more action
30th January 2019
Desertification is a form of land degradation in drylands and it is a growing threat in the EU.
Its effects will be particularly acute in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania.
Highlights of post World Congress 2018 Excursion Tour
28th January 2019