Agriculture
- Ecosystems
Groundwater pumping is draining rivers and streams worldwide
Excessive groundwater use could push more than half of the regions that depend on water pumped up from underground aquifers past an environmental tipping point by 2050. That could threaten aquatic ecosystems around the world.
- Agriculture
As infections ravage food crops, scientists fight back
Diseases threaten important food crops like cocoa beans, wheat and citrus. Scientists are working to understand these infections — and fight back.
- Agriculture
U.S. farmers still use many pesticides that are banned elsewhere
More than one in four of the pesticide used on U.S. farms in 2016 had been banned in other countries.
- Agriculture
Get ready to eat differently in a warmer world
Climate change is affecting what we eat, from making crops less productive to making foods less nutritious. Scientists are studying how farmers can adapt.
- Tech
Tarzan the robot was actually inspired by a sloth
‘Tarzan’ the robot saves energy by swinging. Someday, it could help with farm work by moving along wires strung across fields of crops.
- Agriculture
Barnyard science: Check out this fowl research
New research shows how to store eggs, insulate homes with chicken feathers and slow fires with shells.
- Animals
Can anything stop the big pig invasion?
Millions of wild pigs roam North America, causing billions of dollars in damage every year. Scientists are looking for new ways to stop the swine.
- Agriculture
New ‘tattoo’ could lead to drought-tolerant crops
Scientists create stick-on 'plant tattoo.' It measures how efficiently crops use water, a key to better identifying breeding stock for more drought-resistant crops.
- Agriculture
How to grow a cacao tree in a hurry
Chocolate is made from the pods of the cacao tree. To reproduce this plant quickly for research, scientists use clones.
- Agriculture
Robots will control everything you eat
Robots are now being introduced into all phases of how food is grown and prepared. In the future, though, they will be common.
- Plants
Explainer: The fertilizing power of N and P
Two elements — nitrogen and phosphorus — help plants grow. When the soil doesn’t have them, farmers might add them in the form of fertilizer.
- Agriculture
Scientists Say: Domestication
Domestication is the process of deliberately taking a wild organism — a plant or animal for instance — and making it a part of our daily lives.
