Les Infos, Newsletters

InfoFlash for English Readers 1401

27 Feb 2014

– Using Drones in the Fight Against Apple Scab
– Video : “Tuta absoluta: Combating the tomato leafminer” (Virginia Tech)
– “Root exudates: the hidden part of plant defense”
– Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience
– To smile : Vintage Ads for pesticides

Using Drones in the Fight Against Apple Scab

1312DronePommierFor apple growers in the eastern United States, the biggest problem – the most relentless, pervasive, unavoidable issue, which can ruin a whole crop if not managed aggressively – is apple scab. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire are working on a new tool to combat the apple scourge: A drone. “When you think about apple production now,…

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Video : “Tuta absoluta: Combating the tomato leafminer” (Virginia Tech)

1401TutaAbsoluta This video is a summary of a workshop in Ethiopia sponsored by the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab at Virginia Tech. Its aims was to share current knowledge about Tuta absoluta and its spread, as well as methods of controlling the pest.

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“Root exudates: the hidden part of plant defense”

In this scientific review, Ulrike Baetzsend et Enrico Martinoia, researchers in plant biology at the University of Zurich, discuss current knowledge of the nature and regulation of root-secreted defense compounds and the role of transport proteins in modulating their release.   The significance of root exudates as belowground defense substances has long been underestimated, presumably due to being buried…

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Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience

A story by Michael Schulson on the Daily Beast, a US Web daily. “Americans get riled up about creationists and climate change deniers, but lap up the quasi-religious snake oil at Whole Foods. It’s all pseudoscience—so why are some kinds of pseudoscience more equal than others?” Michael Schulson is a freelance writer based in Durham, North Carolina. He holds…

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To smile : Vintage Ads for pesticides

1311VintageAdShell Seven Vintage Ads of 1950′s for Shell insecticides in USA : aldrin, Phosdrin, mineral oil, dichloropropene. They are described as “each uniquely creepy in its own way”. What is creepy ? Ads or insects ? Insects are a real threat. And Crop protection a necessity. Most of these products are not longer authorized today.   Such a look to the…

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