Cell death assay showing that the Pikm-1OsHIPP43/Pikp-2 chimera recognizes Pwl effector variants when expressed in N. benthamiana. Image credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2402872121 By modifying a plant intracellular immune receptor (NLR), researchers have developed a potential new strategy for resistance to rice blast, one of the most important diseases […]

Areas under pressure to expand can potentially increase the current cultivated area by up to 30% without conservation measures. Source: Nature Sustainability (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01410-x By 2030, global arable land is expected to increase by 3.6 percent and global agricultural production to rise by two percent. This forecast comes from the Food and Agriculture Organization […]

Image credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Every summer, nearly 10,000 acres of rice are grown in the Florida Everglades agricultural region, an approximately 1,100-square-mile area south of Lake Okeechobee. Farming here requires a delicate touch. Due to a process called subsidence, the area has lost almost 1.8 metres of soil in the last century. One way […]

A two-dimensional light engraving (left) suspended in a polymer film. The original photograph (right) was projected into the film using a red and blue light projector, which activates a light-sensitive additive in the polymer. Heating the film erases the image and allows it to be reused. Photo credit: Ivan Aprahamian/Sara Patch Imagine if doctors could […]

Photo credit: Gerard Mills, University of the Sunshine Coast Collection Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast have confirmed the haunt of one of Australia’s smelliest and dirtiest native birds – the white ibis. And as expected, the closer to landfills, the better. This is one of many findings from a new study aimed […]

NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore stand together for a photo en route to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for their launch in the Boeing Starliner capsule to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Chris O’Meara, File NASA is currently […]