Concerned by the declining numbers of honeybees, many community members have attempted to provide urban foraging grounds for pollinators through bee-friendly garden plantings. Unfortunately, according to a recent report published by Friends of the Earth, these actions of goodwill toward bees may have unintended consequences. Researchers found that 54 percent of plants purchased from commercial… Read More ›

Researchers out of Sweden have examined the land use impacts of producing organic versus conventional dairy, and found that organic dairy is more environmentally friendly. The study, published recently in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, examined several environmental health markers, including plant species richness and regeneration times of ecosystems to determine land use… Read More ›

A new research study published in PLOS ONE found that complete genes may be able to pass from food into the human blood stream. It was previously thought that the circulatory system was insulated from the digestive tract, and that long chains of DNA ingested in food were unable to enter the blood stream. This… Read More ›

Researchers at The Roslin Institute at The University of Edinburgh recently found that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) originated in cattle. The study, which was published in mBio, reported that the jump from livestock to human hosts occurred over 40 years ago, likely through direct contact with livestock workers. This is one of the first studies… Read More ›

A recent study published in New Phytologist found that glyphosate-resistant crops that cross with closely related wild weeds could confer a fitness advantage to these weeds, even in areas where glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) is not being used. Researchers crossed glyphosate-resistant rice with their weedy relatives to examine the performance of the hybrids… Read More ›

Researchers in Europe have published a new study explaining the importance of and detailing the methods for how to monitor adverse effects on butterflies and moths from genetically modified (GM) crops. Butterflies and moths were the first biological indicators considered for GM crop monitoring because their populations are sensitive to many environmental changes. Over the… Read More ›

Excess nitrogen is impacting Mississippi River and worsening the Gulf of Mexico’s Dead Zone, according to researchers studying the watershed of the Cedar and Iowa rivers. These scientists have found record levels of nitrogen in the watershed, driven by a combination of drought from last year and high rainfalls from this spring. Nitrogen is making… Read More ›

A current project out of Germany called VetCAb (Veterinary Consumption of Antibiotics) is examining the total amount of antibiotics used in livestock farming. The study hopes to not only quantify current use of antibiotics, but also to provide suggestions on ways to decrease their use in livestock farming because it can lead to resistance in… Read More ›

A new study published in the journal PNAS shows that intensive land use can reduce the biodiversity of soil organisms and have a negative impact on nitrogen and carbon cycling. The European team of researchers conducting the study examined soil life to assess its role in nutrient cycles in agricultural soils. The study showed a… Read More ›

Synthetic fertilizer running off into the Indian River estuary may have contributed to disrupting the balance of its rich marine ecosystem. Recent nitrogen spikes in the water have caused large algal blooms, which blanket the estuary and kill the underwater sea grass fields that are the main food source and habitat for the estuary fauna…. Read More ›