Nibbles

Nibbles: Neanderthal, CWR, Bioinformatics, Svalbard, Old Armenian wine, Maple syrup, Plants databases, Bananas in trouble

Neanderthals cooked and ate plants, but did not use toothbrushes.
Andy Jarvis talks up a crop wild relatives storm.
Towards an information infrastructure for the global genebank system. Maybe.
Aussies send seeds to wrong Global Seed Vault.
Oldest winery found in Armenia. Search still ongoing for oldest wino. Maybe in Lebanon?
Oh, to be at the Bigleaf Maple Syrup Festival!
The most important thing to happen in botany in, what, a couple of weeks? Ah, but the backlash is here.
Colbert finally works out why his high school teacher put condoms on bananas. Here’s his informant.

Interesting take on Sudan’s vote; the South has the water, and yet, currently, the food insecurity. What next?
Quinoa “isn’t lifting us out of poverty … But we are living better.”
Agrobiodiversity Management for Food Security: A Critical Review. Book, due in April. h/t PAR.
US seed industry concentration continues. Through an intellectual property lens.
New IFPRI publication on agriculture, nutrition, health. “Agriculture is the only realistic way for most people to get the nutrition they need.” Can I get a “ramen”?
USD32 million “to harness science to improve food security for millions of people in the developing world”. Get some while it lasts.

Native American eating “best museum cafeteria in town”. “Makes up for the museum,” sniffs Jeremy
Catalog of advanced clones and improved varieties going like hot potatoes.
The Economic Impact of Bioversity is apparently “a seriously problem-rich, solution-craving topic”. Innovation Investment Journal says so.
Pharaonic palm not immortal. Medemia argun “critically endangered”.
Goat lineage diversity delineated. Paywalled.
Chickpea diversity includes variability in resistance to salinity. Paywalled.

Iron-rich potatoes: from genebanks to “improving health in poor communities”.
Agricultural intensification in Nepal; positive impacts vs “potential negative implications”. Via.
Stray livestock wreak havoc in Sri Lanka. h/t CIAT.
New book on “ecologically based rodent management”. Rodents say: “Rats!”
Kew Director looks forward to 2011.
More on North America’s wonderful wheat breeders and their ability to weather climate change.
Plantations more profitable than pasture in Queensland — in a model that includes $4.4/tonne of carbon sequestration.

Vegetable seeds to combat cholera. Really.
“[O]ne person’s tomato is another one’s maintenance nightmare.” School garden backlash shock.
On the other hand “we have to imbue our children with the love of — and consumption of -— … fresh vegetables and fruits”. Lose some, win some.
Malicious pollen? Anastasia turns the tables on the contamination nuts.