An anonymous reader quotes a report from ScienceAlert: A new insurance index from the Swiss Re Institute has found just over half of all global GDP — nearly 42 trillion US dollars — is dependent on goods and services provided by the natural world. In many places around the world, however, that sturdy foundation is turning to sand. The report, referred…
Tag: pollination
Could Smart Technology Help Save the World’s Honey Bees?
CNN Business reports: Climate change, intensive agriculture, and the use of pesticides and fungicides in farming is ravaging the world’s bees. Commercial beekeepers in the United States lost 44% of their managed colonies in 2019, according to research from the University of Maryland. Now, technology startups are developing smart devices that give beekeepers access to detailed information about the state of…
Training bees to prefer certain flower scents boosts seed production
Feeding honeybees scented food makes them more likely to visit flowers with that scent, boosting pollination rates and crop yields Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2254654-training-bees-to-prefer-certain-flower-scents-boosts-seed-production/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Check out this sloth robot
SlothBot is a slow-moving and energy-efficient robot that can linger in the trees to monitor animals, plants, and the environment below. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/sloth-robot-video…
See how Ramone used online learning to supplement his academic and career pursuits
Meet Ramone, a learner in New York who’s taking courses on Coursera to supplement his PhD program, and to improve his career coaching skills. He shares his story below. Enhancing my knowledge My goal for learning on Coursera was to access additional resources to complete my course work for my PhD. I am a Doctoral […]
The post See how Ramone used…
Scientists Find Way To Pollinate Plants With Soap Bubbles As Bees Decline
Researchers have found that soap bubbles can carry pollen grains and deposit them on flowers. CNET reports: “It sounds somewhat like fantasy, but the functional soap bubble allows effective pollination and assures that the quality of fruits is the same as with conventional hand pollination,” said Eijiro Miyako, associate professor at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and lead…
Murder hornets? 5 questions answered about Asian giant hornets in North America
Are ‘murder hornets’ from Asia invading North America? An entomologist who lived among them in Japan explains what’s true about the predatory insects. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/what-are-asian-giant-hornets-dangerous…
Moths Have ‘Secret Role’ As Crucial Pollinators, Research Finds
New research suggests moths play a vital role as overnight pollinators of a wide range of flowers and plants. The BBC reports: The study says that the moths’ transport networks are larger and more complex than those of daytime pollinators like bees. The authors believe there is an urgent need to stem declines in moth numbers. “There’s this big misconception that…