New Atlas

Drones Audio available

Crop-spraying Agro drone is made to take on helicopters

Ben Coxworth February 19, 2019

According to Latvian entrepreneur Elviss Straupenieks, it costs about US$65,000 a year to pesticide-spray an average-size vineyard using a helicopter. His alternative? Well, he claims that his company's AirBoard Agro drone can do it for half as much – plus it offers a few other advantages.

The Agro drone has eight motors/props, mounted on four arms

Environment Audio available

China and India lead the way in "greening" the Earth since 2000

Michael Irving February 12, 2019

A new study of satellite data has shown that the Earth has gotten “greener” in the last 20 years or so, with the biggest contributors being China and India. Before we celebrate though, there are a few caveats to consider.

Satellite data has shown that the Earth has gotten 5 percent greener in recent years, but ...

Environment

Reclaimed smoke-stack mineral could help grow crops

Ben Coxworth February 6, 2019

Sulfur is often chemically "scrubbed" from the flue-gas emissions of coal-burning power plants. Gypsum (aka calcium sulfate) is produced as a byproduct of the process, and typically ends up in landfills. According to new research, however, it could be used to boost crops in a number of ways.

Gypsum can be mined from the earth, but it's also readily available as an emissions-scrubbing byproduct

Science Audio available

New-and-improved protein-rich rice has higher yields

Ben Coxworth January 23, 2019

According to the ASA, it's an unfortunate fact that many people in developing nations don't get enough protein in their diets. What they often do get a lot of, however, is rice. So, scientists have improved upon a type of rice that has over 50 percent more protein than regular varieties.

Prof. Herry Utomo evaluates the growth of new generations of high-protein rice lines

Science Audio available

Bioengineered rice delivers significant increases in grain yields

Rich Haridy January 13, 2019

Research has demonstrated a novel technique to enhance photosynthetic efficiency in rice crops can increase grain yields by up to 27 percent. The study follows other recent demonstrations of food bioengineering designed to enhance worldwide food productivity by improving the photosynthesis process.

On the far left is a wild, unenhanced rice plant, and the other three display improved ...

Science

Scientists hack plant photosynthesis to boost crop yields by 40%

Rich Haridy January 3, 2019

A team of researchers has, for the first time, demonstrated that by fixing a common glitch in photosynthesis, a crop’s yield could be improved by around 40 percent. The landmark study suggests optimizing a plant’s photosynthetic efficiency could significantly increase worldwide food productivity.

The genetically modified crops grow faster and taller than their conventional counterparts

Robotics

New-and-improved agri-robot hits the vineyards

Ben Coxworth September 21, 2018

Back in 2015, we heard about a prototype vineyard-monitoring robot known appropriately enough as VineRobot. Now, its successor has been unveiled in Portugal. Developed via a European Union research consortium, it's called VineScout.

VineScout is capable of checking crops both day and night

Science

"Herculean" research finally sequences wheat genome after 13 years of work

Rich Haridy August 16, 2018

After a massive international effort involving over 200 scientists across 20 countries, the entire wheat genome has been finally sequenced. The landmark human achievement is hoped to lead to more efficient wheat breeding and production of crops.

The massive achievement should accelerate research into the breeding of more resilient and higher yielding wheat ...

Biology

Plasticine caterpillars show how birds could protect crops

Ben Coxworth August 15, 2018

Although the scent of freshly-cut grass may SEEM nice, what you're actually smelling is a distress signal. Thanks to a recent-conducted study, scientists from the University of Delaware now believe that such signals could be used to summon insect-eating birds to valuable crops.

Some of the plasticine caterpillars used in the study

Science

Hungry plants could learn a thing or two from nitrogen-fixing bacteria

Michael Irving July 17, 2018

Nitrogen is a vital nutrient for plants, but they can't pull it out of the air, hence the need for artificial fertilizer. But now, researchers have engineered bacteria that can efficiently suck nitrogen out of the air, and the long-term goal is to develop crops that can do the same.

Researchers have engineered bacteria to absorb nitrogen from the air, with the eventual goal of developing ...