Agriculture

India 'Lagging Behind' in Innovation Race
NEW DELHI - India is not realising its potential for innovation, warn experts, because its education and research institutes do not encourage a culture of experimentation and the exchange of ideas between disciplines.

Although India's potential is high, it is not nurturing innovation, Sri Krishna Joshi, scientist emeritus at India's National Physical Laboratory, told delegates at a conference on inventions and innovations in Delhi, India today (15 October).

India's education system "kills any spirit of innovation" by failing to close the gap between industry and academia, said S. Srinavasa Murthy, professor of electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.
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Invasive Oriental Beetle Shows Up In Midwest US

Purdue, Indiana - Indiana could be under attack by another invasive species very soon, said a Purdue University expert.
Entomologist Doug Richmond said the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed an oriental beetle found in Tippecanoe County is the first in the state. One of our graduate students saw a beetle he didn't recognize, so he brought it into the lab and identified it as oriental beetle," Richmond said. The oriental beetle is an invasive species native to Japan that arrived in the United States in the 1920s. The larvae feed on roots of turf grasses, perennial plants, weeds, nursery stock and potted plants. Adults feed on the petals of flowers, including daisies, phlox and petunias.
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China launches Effort To Green Inner Mongolian Desert
Bejing, China - Beijing and Seoul recently signed an agreement to launch a joint program to harness China's eighth-largest desert - the Ulan Buh in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

About 15 million yuan (1.99 million U.S. dollars) will be spent growing trees and building greenhouses to prevent environmental deterioration in the Ulan Buh region, according to officials involved in the project.
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Team Of 100 Scientists Unlock Secrets Of Amazing Green Algae
Los Angeles - Culminating a three-year research project, 115 scientists from around the world report in the Oct. 12 issue of the journal Science a "gold mine" of data on a tiny green alga called Chlamydomonas, with implications for human diseases.

The single-celled Chlamydomonas, a slimy organism that grows in soil and ponds, has approximately 15,000 genes, and scientists now know 95 percent of the sequence of its genome. Several years ago, they knew less than 2 percent. >> Read the Full Article
Brazil urges Africa to join "biofuel revolution"
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called on Africa to join the "biofuel revolution," saying it would help strengthen the world's poorest economies and fight global warming.
Speaking during an African tour, Lula said Brazil's experience with biofuels showed the environmental and economic benefits of mass producing ethanol and bio-diesel.
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Scientists ramp up ability of poplar plants to disarm toxic pollutants
Scientists since the early '90s have seen the potential for cleaning up contaminated sites by growing plants able to take up nasty groundwater pollutants through their roots. Then the plants break certain kinds of pollutants into harmless byproducts that the plants either incorporate into their roots, stems and leaves or release into the air. >> Read the Full Article
Researchers Genetically Alter Plants Hoping They'll Vacuum Up Toxins

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists hope they've figured out a way to trick plants into doing the dirty work of environmental cleanup, U.S. and British researchers said on Monday.

"Our work is in the beginning stages, but it holds great promise," said Sharon Doty, an assistant professor of forest resources at the University of Washington, whose study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In work they describe as preliminary, researchers at the University of Washington say they've genetically altered poplar trees to pull toxins out of contaminated ground water, perhaps offering a cost-effective way of cleaning up environmental pollutants.
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Biofueling water problems

A new report from the U.S. National Research Council raises questions about the effects that homegrown fuels could have on water quality.
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Schwarzenegger Vetoes Industrial Hemp Bill In California
SACRAMENTO, CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed AB 684, The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act, yesterday evening, rejecting the will of the vast majority of Californians who supported the legislation. The landmark, bi-partisan legislation would have followed North Dakota in establishing guidelines for the farming of industrial hemp which is used in a wide variety of everyday consumer products, including food, body care, clothing, paper, and auto parts. >> Read the Full Article
Illinois firm recalls beef patties on E.coli scare

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - J&B Meats Corp. is recalling 173,554 pounds (78.7 tonnes) of frozen ground beef products sold under "Topps" and "Sam's Choice" labels due to possible E. coli contamination, the U.S. government said this weekend.

The Coal Valley, Illinois-based company produced the patties in June and distributed them to retail stores nationwide, the U.S. Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service, or FSIS, said in a statement.
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