March 25, 2011

Fragrance often determines which plants we will and won't be putting in our gardens. But how is it that our noses, and ultimately our brains, are able to detect scents? This article on the BBC website looks at how and what we smell may be determined by events happening on the quantum level.

March 18, 2011

This article in The Guardian describes instances where eco-farming has been used to raise crop yields by up to eighty percent in some poorer regions of the planet. It seems leveraging nature pays off in a way that nuking fields with fertilizers and chemicals doesn't.

March 4, 2011

Describing mosquitoes as insects with "few redeeming features", scientists debate what impact their eradication would have on the planet and in doing so give us some interesting insights into the role that mosquitoes play in a variety of diverse ecosystems. The article in Nature is from last summer, but it's worth taking a look at now that another mosquito season is quickly arriving.