An international collaboration between Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has successfully grown premium Japanese rice on Kauaʻi using water-saving upland methods. The rice matured one month faster than in Japan while achieving comparable yields and producing larger, higher-quality grains. This research demonstrates the potential to reestablish local rice production, enhance food security, and offer a sustainable farming model for water-scarce island regions.

A UC Davis study reveals the extent a queen bee will go to survive, even offloading contamination to her eggs.

Scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft teamed up with senior research fellows in the field to launch Journal of Regeneration (JoR), a new open-access peer-reviewed journal established to promote a transversal biological perspective connecting developmental biology, evolution, ecology, agriculture, and medicine.

Starting from syringic acid, a natural phenolic acid with favorable safety and biodegradability features, Prof. Runjiang Song's team at the State Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide, Guizhou University, designed a series of derivatives by combining the syringic acid scaffold with an allicin-inspired disulfide unit and a 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety. Among 34 derivatives, compound C31 emerged as the most potent anti-Xoo molecule, with an EC₅₀ of 0.86 μg/mL. In rice pot experiments, C31 achieved 59.37% control efficacy against bacterial leaf blight, outperforming syringic acid and the commercial reference thiodiazole copper in this study.

Gentle purchase incentives can lead customers to choose groceries with higher animal husbandry standards more often. A recent study at the University of Bonn at least suggests this. The researchers used two different animal welfare label posters as “nudges.” Each poster itself changed the consumer behavior of participants shopping in a virtual supermarket. The share of products with higher animal welfare standards in the shopping cart was highest when both posters were combined. Further studies have yet to clarify the extent to which the results can be transferred to real shopping situations. The study has been published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 

Researchers combined forest inventory data, satellite observations, and machine learning to estimate tree density across North America and evaluate the uncertainty of those estimates. The study suggests the continent contains between 339 billion and 514 billion trees with DBH＞10 cm and shows that estimates can vary substantially depending on forest definitions and tree size thresholds. The framework provides a consistent approach for large-scale forest monitoring, biodiversity assessment, and carbon accounting.

Researchers from the University of Georgia and the USDA Forest Service evaluated four strategies for predicting future tree diameters for "unobserved" species. They found that all four strategies can produce reliable predictions. However, approaches that incorporate species-specific information, such as post-hoc calibration using at least one repeated measurement or grouping rare species into an "others" category, tend to provide more precise results. The study offers practical guidance for forest managers working in species-rich tropical forests, where rare and unobserved species are common.

China's massive reforestation effort has transformed more than 77 million hectares of land, but new research shows that planted forests face different drought risks from natural forests. Using satellite observations from 1990 to 2024 and machine learning analysis, researchers found that planted forests are more vulnerable to rapid-onset flash droughts but less prone to prolonged slow droughts. The differences are linked to forest structure: natural forests have greater species diversity, more complex canopies, and deeper root systems that help buffer sudden water shortages, while planted forests are typically younger and less diverse. The findings highlight a trade-off in drought resilience and suggest that future forest management should prioritize mixed-species, structurally diverse forests to better withstand increasing climate extremes.