Author: Luigi Guarino

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Irradiating cherry trees in order to save them

“Cherry trees require a minimum of 8,000 hours of low temperatures over the winter to produce the optimum blossoms, but as Japan gets warmer we are falling short of that figure,” said [Dr Abe].

“And that is a problem because we Japanese love cherry blossom season.”

Dr. Abe’s team has responded to this national crisis by creating a cherry tree that blooms in all four seasons, keeping its flowers for longer, producing more blossoms and under a wider range of temperatures than any existing breeds.

How? A combination of radiation and grafting. Which means that one will now be able to wear the Human Polllination Suit all year round.

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The tribe of genebankers gets a visit

Peter [Curran] meets the botanists who won the lottery. Seed conservation used to be rather marginal to the main scientific activity at The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. That is, until, the scientists who preserve seeds for future generations asked for and received 30 million pounds.

It’s a BBC programme and you have 7 days left to listen to it. It provides an interesting insight into a particular, albeit unique, genebank — if you can get past Mr Curran’s sardonic attitude.

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Camelina takeover

“With more than 12 years of experience working with camelina, exclusive access to the majority of the world’s camelina germplasm, and a wealth of intellectual property around the genetic modification of the crop, we have chosen to focus our company’s efforts on camelina’s use as a sustainable, next generation biofuel.”

Well, I’m convinced.