We’ve done a little much-needed upgrading, to the way the site works and the way it looks. A crack team of test elves swarmed all over the site, and didn’t report anything broken, but some of them are pretty slack. So if you find something that isn’t quite right, let us know.
Also, in response to a demand, we’ve put in a Category Cloud, which indicates what we write about. Personally, I find it a trifle misleading, but that’s a discussion we need to have among ourselves. Your thoughts, however, are most welcome. Thanks.
The hype goes on
“More food at lower cost.”
Now there’s a headline packed with potential. Alas, that’s all it has at the moment, potential. Not to denigrate the science of Angharad R. Jones — known to his pals as Harry — and colleagues at the University of Bristol. 1 They’ve done some nifty research into what makes plant root hairs grow. It’s a complex study involving a computer model of where the plant hormone ought to be, and the bottom line seems to be that it isn’t where the researchers thought it would be.
Great. A deeper understanding of the development of root hairs is important. Root hairs, after all, are the basis of the plant’s uptake of minerals and water. But the press release goes well beyond that:
This new understanding will be crucial in helping farmers to produce food sustainably and to reduce fertiliser waste, which can cause severe damage to ecosystems.
I’ve written the odd press release myself, and I know how hard it can be to interest reporters in the small individual bricks that make up the building that is scientific understanding. But this kind of reporting is, I fear, going to lead inevitably to overinflated expectations and crushing disappointment.
If anyone notices.
El hombre de la papa
Here is a video about the life and work of Carlos Ochoa, the recently deceased potato man. By the Televisión Nacional del Perú, in Spanish. From his early days in Cusco, resisting a father that wanted him to become a lawyer, to the agony of an approaching end, with so much of his life’s work unfinished. Watch, listen, admire, and shiver.
Ex situ conservation of endangered plants of the US
An interesting post on the Denver Botanic Garden’s blog led me to the Center for Plant Conservation‘s 2 database of the National Collection of Endangered Plants of the US, which I’m ashamed to say I knew nothing about. It is interesting to us here because it includes crop wild relatives like Helianthus species. There’s also lots of information on how to fight invasives, which has been the subject of some discussion here in the past few days.
Orange revolution
Sweetpotatoes come in different colors and tastes (and sizes). The “yams” eaten in the United States are sweet and have orange and moist flesh. The staple of parts of Africa and the Pacific (and pig feed in China), is typically white-fleshed and not very sweet nor moist (notwithstanding variations like this purple variety.)
Anyway, the orange fleshed sweetpotato is stacked with beta-carotene, the stuff you need to eat for your body to make vitamin A. Many poor people have vitamin A deficiencies, which leads to stunted growth and blindness. So why don’t the poor sweetpotato eaters eat orange fleshed varieties? In part because they simply do not have them, or know about their health benefits. In part because they do not grow well in Africa (decimated by pests and diseases). And also because they do not taste right: too sweet for a staple.
The International Potato Center and partners have been trying to fix all that. Now they have made a nice video about getting orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes into the food-chain in Mozambique. The orange revolution:
https://vimeo.com/2278794I wonder if they also promote mixing more sweetpotato leaves into the diet — even of white fleshed varieties. The leaves are a very good source of micro-nutrients, including beta-carotene! More fodder for the biofortification discussion.