| Biotech's Plans to Sustain Agriculture (preview) If environmental and economic sustainability is ultimately a matter of balancing the human race’s consumption and productivity, then the agricultural industry leans heavily on both sides of that scale. Its drain on the earth’s resources is enormous: it claims 70 percent of all freshwater taken by our species and more than 40 percent of the planet’s solid surface (nearly all the arable land), with attendant casualties in bio­diversity. Yet modern agriculture is also the only reason we can produce enough food to nourish our population of 6.8 billion--a number slated to reach more than nine billion by midcentury. Keeping up with that steeply rising demand thus defines the challenge of sustain­ability not only for agriculture but for humanity. Agriculture depends on many technologies, but bio­technology might be the most influential among them. To find out how the industry perceives its prospects for raising both global crop productivity and sustainability, con­tributing editor John Rennie spoke with representatives of four leading agricultural biotechnology companies. What follows here is an abridged version of their edited con­versation. --The Editors [More] rss.sciam.com |
U.S. Drinking Water Widely Contaminated A three-year study of the nation's drinking water quality has found more than 200 unregulated chemicals in the tap water of 45 states.The Environmental Working Group analysis of 20 million tap water quality tests found a total of 316 contaminants -- including industrial solvents, weed killers, refrigerants and the rocket fuel component perchlorate -- in water supplied to the public between 2004 and 2009. [More] rss.sciam.com |
PET project: Using organic catalysts to make more biodegradable plastics Whereas most discarded plastic water and beverage bottles (those imprinted with a number 1 within a triangular arrow) can be recycled , the resulting second-generation plastic is generally unusable for making new plastic bottles. This is because the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) thermoplastic polymer used to make the original bottles is often made with the help of metal oxide or metal hydroxide catalysts that linger in the recycled material and weaken it over time. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Spare Times: For Children A selected guide to events by, for and about children in the New York area. nytimes.com |
Spare Times for Oct. 29-Nov. 4 A selected guide to readings, discussions, parades, celebrations and other events in New York. nytimes.com |