Living World / Agriculture

Big Picture: The Banks That Prevent—Rather Than Cause—Global Crises

Seed banks put some much-needed wild vigor back into today's specialized varieties, protecting critical crops from being wiped out. 11.20.2009

Who Killed All Those Honeybees? We Did

The great bee die-off is not such a mystery after all: Industrial agriculture has stressed our pollinators to the breaking point. 10.19.2009

Beautiful Images of Strange Fruits

The scarlet pimpernel's has a natural hinge. The blueberry glows brightly—in ultraviolet light. The Buddha's hand looks like… You guessed it. 03.11.2009

#19: Salmonella Outbreak Shines Light on Food Safety

Two deaths and countless dollars later, the chinks in the food system are exposed. 12.19.2008

#20: The “Doomsday Vault” Stores Seeds for a Global Agriculture Reboot

Humanity's chances to survive global warming and nuclear attacks just increased. 12.19.2008

#31: Fish Farming Threatens Wild Salmon

Lice, interbreeding, and contaminants are killing off the species. 12.16.2008

#44: The Baffling Bee Die-Off Continues

Colony Collapse Disorder continues its relentless march. 12.14.2008

#46: FDA Approves Food From Cloned Animals

Meat and milk products from cloned livestock may soon hit the shelves. 12.13.2008

The Apple as Battlefield: People vs. Nature

Farmers clone millions of apple trees. Millions of pests lick their chops. 10.15.2008

Sliced: Building a Better Bubbly

The science involved in the art of making great champagne. 07.15.2008

Fighting Cow Methane at the Source: Their Food

Genetically modified grass could be the key to reducing cow emissions. 07.08.2008

What Is This? A Diseased Reptile?

Here's a hint: You probably ate some at breakfast. 06.02.2008

Want to Help the Environment? Eat Insects.

A group of experts endorse bugs as a nutritious and sustainable food source. 05.07.2008

Warning: Contains Pork By-Products

Pigs really are dirty—but only because humans make them that way. 04.28.2008

Biofuel Farming Looks to Be an Environmental Disaster

Growing corn for ethanol may increase greenhouse gases for over a century. 04.03.2008

Go to the Fridge and Fix Yourself a Superbug Sandwich

Canadian pork imports may be laced with antibiotic-resistant Staph. 03.28.2008

Protect the Future of Ice Cream... by Eating Ice Cream

Häagen-Dazs pitches in to protect the honeybee. 03.20.2008

Has Science Found a Way to End All Wars?

Given adequate food, fuel, and gender equality, mass conflict just might disappear. 03.13.2008

The Future of Space Food: Bugs

They reproduce rapidly, eat just about anything, and are nutritious, too. 10.24.2007

Climate Change Triggers Bloodshed

Giving a new definition to "cold war" 09.25.2007

Better Planet: Beepocalypse

Can we save honey bees from Colony Collapse Disorder? 06.28.2007

Black Gold of the Amazon

Precious soil could save the rainforest and combat global warming. 04.30.2007

Toxic Salad

What are fecal bacteria doing on our leafy greens? 04.18.2007

Laboratories in Lockdown

Inmates have time to watch moss grow. 03.12.2007

Scorched Wine

Global warming may push wine grapes out of traditional areas. 03.06.2007

The Other Micro Economics

Converting bugs into greenbacks. 07.02.2006

Stone Age Beer

It's one thing to re-create a 9,000-year-old brew. It's another thing to drink it 11.22.2005

The Physics of . . . Popcorn

Scientists have doubled the payload of today's popcorn—at the expense of taste 05.01.2005

The Truth About Invasive Species

How to stop worrying and learn to love ecological intruders 05.01.2005

The Biology of . . . Bitterness

By blocking the right taste receptors, biotech researchers turn bitter into sweet 03.31.2005

Observer

11.26.2004

The Biology of . . . Lawns

America's addiction to grass wastes billions of gallons of precious water every year. But a new kind of turf may help us kick the habit for good 07.01.2003

Hunger on the Wing

Locusts were once the scourge of the American plains. Will these giant grasshoppers return? 07.01.2003

Gardening in Space

02.01.2003

Endangered Chocolate

The botanical battle to save an ancient flavor 08.01.2002

Talking Plants

Plants have more than thorns and thistles to protect themselves—they can cry for help 04.01.2002

Spliced Ham, The Cleaner Breakfast Meat

Genetically engineered pigs do less harm to the environment. 12.01.2001

The Biology of . . . Cheese

Safety vs. flavor in the land of Pasteur 11.01.2001

Future Tech

Smart farm equipment knows how to tend the fields. Soon tractors won't even need a driver 11.01.2001

Insect Slop

05.01.2001

Eating Locally

After living well for a year on foods grown within 250 miles of his house, Gary Paul Nabhan sees a simple solution to the planet's environmental problems: 05.01.2001

The Nitrogen Bomb

By learning to draw fertilizer from a clear blue sky, chemists have fed the multitudes. they've also unleashed a fury as threatening as atomic energy 04.01.2001

Works in Progress

Finally, some genetic tinkering we can really appreciate 04.01.2001

Genetically Altered Corn

How a genetically modified corn called StarLink that wasn't intended for humans got into your food supply 03.01.2001

Future Food

Beans that don't have to be soaked, apples that don't turn brown, and other wonders from the food technology conference 12.01.2000

The Biology of . . . Truffles

Expensive and delectable, truffles are one crop modern agriculture can't tame 11.01.2000

Biocrops

that could win blue ribbons in twenty years if we don't watch out 10.01.2000

Odor Engineers

Showy plants usually don't smell good, and that's a problem for pollination. 10.01.2000

Works in Progress

A stint on a family farm brings the shifting lives of the American middle class into focus 09.01.2000

A Kernel of Style

09.01.2000

Works in Progress

With the help of archaeobotany, the Taj Mahal's evening garden may bloom yet again 07.01.2000

Fears for Ears

07.01.2000

Folk Forecasting

04.01.2000

Cooking Ourselves

11.01.1999

Peter the Great

This guy turns a sleepy azalea park into one of the best botanical gardens in the hemisphere, so now he thinks he can save the world too? 10.01.1999

The Chemistry of . . . Wine Making

Is dirt destiny? Do the French know what they're doing? 04.01.1999

The Chemistry of Wine Making

Is dirt destiny? Do the French know what they're doing? 04.01.1999

The Great Gene Escape

The seed companies say the plants they've created are safe. But who's to know what will come from a romp in the field with an untamed weed? 05.01.1998

The Corn War

The true origin of corn is a question that's been debated for decades. Now a maverick geneticist says she may have the answer. But to get anyone to listen to her, she has to join a long-running academic food fight. 12.01.1997

Charged Pollen

02.01.1997

King Tut's Tipple

01.01.1997

Chateau Zagros

01.01.1997

Keepers of the Oaks

Modern Americans may preserve California better than Native Americans did. 08.01.1996

Biology and Medicine

Once upon a time, all the fruits, nuts, and berries our gathering ancestors ate were wild. Someone, at some time, had to come up with the bright idea of crops. 09.01.1994

Fly Wars

California spends tens of millions to defend its crops against the voracious medfly. But one entomologist says the defense is based on sloppy science. 02.01.1993

Breaking the Storm

Physicists with their heads in the clouds are learning how to turn dangerous hailstorms into crop-saving rain showers. 05.01.1992