Les Infos, Newsletters

InfoFlash for English Readers 1402

07 Apr 2014

– Neonicotinoids are mostly safe for bees (Australian Safety Agency)
– Fire-blight resistant apples (ZTH : University of Zurich)
– “An Example Of How Much Pesticides Have Changed” (Steve Savage)
– “Risky business Psychology can teach us much about why many people fear GM foods” (Cosmos)
– Pests, Bees, Flies and Friends: Photos
– To smile: the expert in a meeting

Neonicotinoids are mostly safe for bees (Australian Safety Agency)

Concerning neonicotinoids, “few adverse impacts have been observed at doses to which pollinators might be exposed in the field – with the exception of those well-documented cases in several European countries and in Canada of bee mortality caused by acute exposure of bees to neonicotinoid dusts generated during planting of insecticide-coated maize seed”. That is an important conclusion of…

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Fire-blight resistant apples (ZTH : University of Zurich)

Une pomme infectée par le feu bactériejn (Photo: S. Stabinger / Wikimedia Commons)

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the Julius Kühn Institute in Germany have created the first fire-blight-resistant apple. With the aid of so-called cis-genetic engineering, they transfered a resistance gene from a wild apple into the genome of a Gala apple. A single gene provides a sufficient protection. But more resistance genes are requested to make it doubly sure…

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“An Example Of How Much Pesticides Have Changed” (Steve Savage)

1403CalifornieUsagesPesticidesParCategorie Upon this title, Steve Savage, a blogger about agriculture and technology, gives the example of the quality vineyard in California. This is an example. But the dramatic changes he describes is similar in other crops and other regions. His main and most detailed arguments in his article are about the history of acute toxicity of pesticides, compared to natural…

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“Risky business Psychology can teach us much about why many people fear GM foods” (Cosmos)

1403RiskyBusiness This story has been published by Cosmos, a educational review on scientific matters. It’s not just about GM foods. It’s about every social dispute which includes a risk assessment part. Our brain is not so reasonable : “the brain is only the organ with which we think we think. To be blunt: we are not as smart as…

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Pests, Bees, Flies and Friends: Photos

1403MacroPhotoMysteryWasp Some wonderful pictures of pests. And also macrophotographies of various insects : bees, wasps, flies… With short comments Some pest   Some pests. Macrophotographies of various insects (bees, pollinators, …)

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To smile: the expert in a meeting

1404Expert There is no worse deaf as those who will not listen. Watch the video It is sometimes difficult for an expert to be understood. Quite funny. Something similar could be done with any matter involving science when it interferes with politics…

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