When science really gets dangerous

“Man owes a great debt to the scientists on this list; all of them died or were injured in their pursuit of knowledge. The advances they have all made to science are extraordinary and many of them paved the way for some of man’s greatest discoveries and inventions.” says Jamie Frater, author of The List Universe in Top 10 Scientists Killed or Injured by Their Experiments. There aren’t any plant breeders or geneticists are on the list, so I think I’m safe.
via Science Careers

From char to fuel?

One of the arguments against biofuels is that (like all agriculture, even organic) it is essentially soil mining. By removing plants that grow on the land, we also remove nutrients. This includes trace essential nutrients like iron and copper as well as the big ones like potassium. We can do our best to replace the nutrients with fertilizers (synthetic or organic) but will never match mother nature. So, what do we do?
Biochar is plant matter (such as corn stover) that has undergone pyrolysis (heating without oxidation). To put it extremely simply, biochar is a large quantity of biomass “condensed” into a smaller quantity of charcoal. All of the minerals in the biomass are now in the biochar. Increasing soil health in the form of microbes is another positive effect of biochar. Plants grown in biochar do better than plants in unamended soil (see picture at right, no info on a comparison to conventional or organic soil amendments.

Veterans in Science and Engineering

Last month, 8 veterans who are students in science and engineering were interviewed for Science Careers, a publication of AAAS. I was lucky to be included. Alan Kotok, managing editor of Science Careers, conducted my interview over the phone. The series is called Student Veterans Come Marching Home. He wrote two articles: Their Return to Studies and A New GI Bill for Scientists. The interviews are in the first, while the second discusses the “21st Century GI Bill”. Beryl Benderly wrote Taken for Granted: Over Here, an article that suggests that science careers might be appropriate for veterans. The article and companion podcast do a good job of explaining how difficult the transition to student from service can be. I’m pleased with the article and especially tickled that Mr. Kotok included a link to Genetic Maize. I am bashful to have been quoted on quite a few subjects, including the closing statement. I’ve posted the text of the article below the cut, but you may want to visit the website to view pictures of the veterans.

Weather takes a toll on midwest farms

I usually shy away from pessimism, but if you think food prices are high now, wait until the harvest in 2008. Flooding caused by unrelenting rain has been hard on Iowa’s corn and soy fields – and the summer is just beginning.
After all this rain, late summer droughts are predicted (just when the grain and beans will be maturing). A lot of farmers planted late or still haven’t planted. By the time the corn is silking, corn rootworm beetles will be ready to eat the silks, decreasing pollination and thus yield (in good years, silking is already in progress when rootworm reaches adulthood). The crops could be hit by toxin-producing fungus, rendering the grain poisonous even for feed (perhaps it could still be used for biofuels?).

Solving the IP problem, one rupee at a time

One valid argument against GMOs is that big corporations control the tech and can charge the farmers sky high prices for the seed. For a long time, I’ve been saying that I don’t like the system, but if countries want to protect their farmers then they should pass some legislation. Well, it’s happened!

The Maharashtra government has fixed the price of genetically modified Bt cotton seeds at 750 rupees [about US $17.40] for a 450 gram [about 1 pound] packet, it said on Wednesday.

This is the maximum price that seed companies can charge from farmers in the current sowing season, which will start from [sic.] June.

Other main cotton growing states like Andhra Pradesh in eastern coast and Gujarat in western coast have already imposed similar price restrictions.

Maharashtra, the biggest cultivator of the fibre crop, this year began fixing seed prices ahead of the sowing operations in the upcoming kharif season [autumn harvest], under a new government act.

via CheckBiotech