Grass replaces plastic in take-away food packaging

Soon, packaging for take-away foods might be completely based on local, sustainable materials instead of fossil-based products. In a new research project, a packaging solution based on upcycled grass fibres is being developed.

Innovative Food Systems Solutions portal launch: Healthy diets for all on a healthy planet

Explore and contribute to the IFSS portal and connect to the global community working to ensure sustainable and resilient food systems that provide affordable, safe and nutritious diets for the growing global population on a healthy planet.

Study: Fluorescent light clarifies relationship between heat stress and crop yield

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists report that it is possible to detect and predict heat damage in crops by measuring the fluorescent light signature of plant leaves experiencing heat stress. If collected via satellite, this fluorescent signal could support widespread monitoring…

An illuminating possibility for stroke treatment: Nano-photosynthesis

Blocked blood vessels in the brains of stroke patients prevent oxygen-rich blood from getting to cells, causing severe damage. Plants and some microbes produce oxygen through photosynthesis. What if there was a way to make photosynthesis happen in the brains…

Long search finds grain of hope in the glume

Researchers have found the elusive genetic element controlling the elongated grains and glumes of a wheat variety identified by the renowned botanist Carl Linnaeus more than 250 years ago. The findings relating to Polish wheat, Triticum polonicum, could translate into…

Soybean cyst nematode is the most damaging soybean pathogen–and it’s rapidly spreading

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is the most damaging pathogen of soybean in the United States and Canada and it is spreading rapidly, according to information compiled by Gregory Tylka and Christopher Marett, nematologists at Iowa State University. SCN was…

Oceans’ microscopic plants — diatoms — capture carbon dioxide via biophysical pathways

Diatoms are tiny unicellular plants — no bigger than half a millimeter — which inhabit the surface water of the world’s oceans where sunlight penetration is plenty. Despite their modest size, they are one of the world’s most powerful resources…