Author: Luigi Guarino

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Using the internet for early warning of genetic erosion

Regular readers will recognize this as a bit of a hobbyhorse of mine. Turns out I’m not alone. A guest post over at Resilience Science discusses harnessing ICTs for ecological monitoring.

Can researchers who are interested in ecological monitoring tap into these increased flows of information by “mining” the internet to detect “early-warning” signs that may signal abrupt ecological changes?

Well, if ecological monitoring, why not genetic monitoring? The health community is in the vanguard, and reaping the benefits.

…nowadays, around 60% of all early warnings of emerging epidemic emergencies that reach the WHO come from … ICT tools.

Agrobiodiversity conservation and use also stand to gain immensely, I think. We just need to take that first step.

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Featured: Past collecting in Bhutan

Eliseu wants to know more about past collecting in Bhutan:

I would be very interested to follow up the development of this case should someone have access to the mission reports and could shed some light on the main objectives, sampling strategies and findings of the collecting missions that took place in the country 30 years ago.

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Rock salt and pond scum

A fascinating post over at Rancho Gordo discusses tequesquite. That’s a natural salt that has been used in Mexican cooking since pre-Columbian times, including for nixtamalization, a process that makes maize easier to process, tastier and more nutritious.

The post also mentions the alga known as tecuilayl (Spirulina geitleri). This was apparently an important food for the Aztecs. 1 Our resident expert on Mexico says it’s the perfect complement to a succulent steamed axolotl in chile sauce. Yummie.