LINKSGolden Rice: Hope or Hype A Killer Fungus Among Us
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Biotechnology has often been criticized for only benefitting farmers and not the people who actually eat the food. But a new product, golden rice, has the potential to change that.
Golden rice contains beta carotene, a form of vitamin A. And vitamin A deficiency is a major problem in the developing world. Adding the nutrient to rice has the potential to save millions of live.
Dr. Swappan Datta at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines is part of the team developing golden rice. He holds out great hope for the final product.
Dr. C.S. Prakash, from Tuskagee University in Alabama, agrees. He's seen the good that technology has already done increasing available food in the developing world.
Not everyone agrees that golden rice will do any good. Dr. Marion Nestle at New York University doesn't think golden rice can solve the problems of malnutrition in the developing world. She thinks the problems are more closely related to the wider issue of poverty.
For Neth Dano of SEARICE in the Philippines it's all about access. She doesn't see how golden rice will get to the people who really need it. She's suspicious of the multinational biotech companies and wonders if this isn't just their way of seeing if they can test their crops on an unsuspecting public.
Dr. John Klironomos, a soil ecologist in the department of botany at the University of Guelph has discovered that a common fungus kills insects to extract their nitrogen and feed the forest's trees. The discovery could have a big impact on how we understand the ecology of forests.
Dr. Klironomos' study was published in the April 5 edition of the journal Nature.
Out in the desert locusts normally live a quiet peaceful life on their own. But from time to time, they abandon their solitary habits and join together as giant swarms that sweep across the land destroying anything in their path. Until recently, no one knew what started this swarming. But now a group of researchers in England thinks they have the answer. Dr. Stephen Simpson at Oxford University has discovered a small patch on the hindlegs of locusts that, when stimulated by touching, starts the insects swarming.
Our genetics columnist, Dr. Vanessa Auld from the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia, discusses the connection between insulin and longevity. Recent experiments on soil nematodes and fruit flies show that if the genes that produce and respond to insulin are disabled, the animals live longer. But the price they pay is sterility and stunted development.
The latest research appeared in several articles in the April 6 2001 issue of Science.
This week we have a rather massive question from Doug Begin. If the sun is losing mass, is that affecting the Earth's orbit?
For the answer we go to the University of Regina and Dr. Peter Bergbusch, a professor of physics and astronomy.
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Quick Quarks -- Stay on your toes
New research shows that basketball shoes with air-cushioned
soles may pose a risk of injury, and that high heels, no matter
what kind, can cause arthritis in the knees.
And Dr. Jasper McKee, professor emeritus of physics at the University of Manitoba tells a tale of the shoe-fitting fluoroscope.
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