In Hawaii, parasites and viruses team up in the battle against fruit flies – an entomologist explains the implication for global pest control

Fruit flies wreak havoc on crops in Hawaii, but a type of parasitoid wasp armed with a biological weapon has helped keep the pests at bay.

Kelsey Coffman, Assistant Professor of Entomology & Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee • conversation
Oct. 31, 2024 ~9 min

Colonialism’s legacy has left Caribbean nations much more vulnerable to hurricanes

The islands’ vulnerability has roots deep in the exploitative systems forced on them by colonialism, from slave-based land policies to ill-suited development that put lives in harm’s way.

Farah Nibbs, Assistant Professor of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County • conversation
Oct. 22, 2024 ~11 min


How farmers can install solar panels in fields without damaging the rest of their operation

Agrivoltaics, which pairs solar panels with farming, offers a path to decarbonise agriculture. But how do we make it work for crops and energy? A new tool may hold the answer.

Austin Kay, Researcher in Sustainable Advanced Materials, Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials, Swansea University • conversation
Oct. 17, 2024 ~7 min

How farmers can use solar power without damaging the rest of their operation

Agrivoltaics, which pairs solar panels with farming, offers a path to decarbonise agriculture. But how do we make it work for crops and energy? A new tool may hold the answer.

Austin Kay, Researcher in Sustainable Advanced Materials, Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials, Swansea University • conversation
Oct. 17, 2024 ~7 min

Millions of people across the US use well water, but very few test it often enough to make sure it’s safe

Providing information about risks and easy-to-use test strips made people more likely to check their water quality. But there’s not much support for people whose water turns out to be tainted.

Gabriel Lade, Associate Professor of Economics, Macalester College • conversation
Oct. 11, 2024 ~11 min

Trees’ own beneficial microbiome could lead to discovery of new treatments to fight citrus greening disease

The promising compounda were discovered on an organic farm.

Krishnaswamy Jayachandran, Professor of Agroecology, Florida International University • conversation
Oct. 4, 2024 ~6 min

America’s dairy farms are disappearing, down 95% since the 1970s − milk price rules are one reason why

Dairy farms are struggling to survive as production costs exceed sales. The result, consolidation, with more cows on bigger farms, has an impact on communities and knowing where your food comes from.

Elizabeth Eckelkamp, Associate Professor of Animal Science and Dairy Extension Specialist, University of Tennessee • conversation
Sept. 16, 2024 ~9 min

As human population grows, people and wildlife will share more living spaces around the world

As the world’s population grows, contact between humans and wildlife will increase in more than half of Earth’s land areas. A new study shows where the largest changes will occur.

Deqiang Ma, Postdoctoral Researcher in Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan • conversation
Aug. 21, 2024 ~6 min


Human manure or ‘nightsoil’ makes great crop fertiliser – but attitudes to poo-grown produce differ drastically

A tale of two poos - attitudes towards the agricultural use of human excretion-based fertiliser differ between Japan and England as new research shows.

Steven David Pickering, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam • conversation
Aug. 20, 2024 ~5 min

Banana apocalypse, part 2 – a genomicist explains the tricky genetics of the fungus devastating bananas worldwide

Fusarium oxysporum can infect over 120 plant species. Whether it destroys Cavendish bananas as it did their predecessor depends on the agricultural industry and consumers.

Li-Jun Ma, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UMass Amherst • conversation
Aug. 16, 2024 ~6 min

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