News by Subject Agriculture

With Canada's honey bees dying, beekeepers and government regulators have been left struggling to find ways to quickly diagnose, manage and improve bee health. The solution could be a new bee health diagnosis tool being created as part of a research project led by bee genomics expert Associate Professor Amro Zayed, of York University, along with Professor Leonard Foster, of the University of British Columbia. The $10 million is set to start on Oct. 1.

Research by ecologists at the University of Toronto and Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry shows strong evidence in a freshwater lake of "fishing down the food web" - the deliberate shift away from top predatory fish on the food chain to smaller species closer to the base. While the effect has historically been observed almost exclusively in marine ecosystems and ocean fisheries, there has been little evidence of the effect in freshwater ecosystems.

Nature has evolved a dazzling array of materials that help organisms thrive in diverse habitats. Sometimes, scientists can exploit these designs to develop useful materials with similar or completely new functions. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have made a durable and flexible super-water-repelling material inspired by spiky porcupinefish skin.

New WSU research shows large wine challenges tend to favor wines with high ethanol and sugar levels. Flavors often associated with sweetness, including exotic fruits in white wines and dried fruit and spiciness in reds, also increase the chances of winning top prizes.

National survey data helped the authors of this study examine how common it is for US hospitals and physician practices to screen patients for social needs such as food insecurity, housing instability, utility and transportation needs, and experience with interpersonal violence.