Tag: agriculture
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Pfizer Spins Off Animal Health Unit, Raises $2.2B in IPO
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. in New York created a new enterprise, Zoetis, from its former animal health division. The new company raised $2.2 billion in its initial public offering, and will trade on the New York Stock exchange under the symbol ZTS. Zoetis, based in Madison, New Jersey, discovers and develops veterinary vaccines and…
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Universities, Companies Study Oilseed Camelina as Biofuel
Bioscientists at Kansas State University in Manhattan, with colleagues at two other universities and four companies, are studying the economic potential of the oilseed plant camelina as a commercial biofuel feedstock. The project, led by K-State agricultural engineering professor Xiuzhi Susan Sun (pictured right), is funded by a $5.08 million grant from National Institute of…
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Study: Insurance Industry Adjusting to Climate Change
A study by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California finds the global insurance industry is taking human-induced climate change seriously and undertaking a variety of actions to limit the impact of climate change on their companies’ finances. Environmental scientist Evan Mills describes his findings in this week’s issue of the journal Science (paid subscription required).…
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Process Converts Greenhouse Gas into Useful Chemicals
Chemists at University of Southern California in Los Angeles devised a method for changing fluoroform, a common yet potent greenhouse gas, into reagents for producing pharmaceuticals and agriculture chemicals. The team led by G.K. Surya Prakash, director of USC’s Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute, published its findings in this week’s issue of the journal Science (paid…
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MIT Entrepreneurial Center Awards Technology Grants
A division of Massachusetts Institute of Technology that promotes entrepreneurship awarded new grants to eight research teams working on early-stage technologies. The Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT says the grants total $706,000 and cover projects ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to retinal disease detection. The grants support early-stage research and development of new solutions,…
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Omega-3 Fatty Acids Added to Milk Without Affecting Taste
Food scientists at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg discovered they could add beneficial omega-3 fatty acids to milk in quantities that promote heart health, without affecting the milk’s taste or shelf life. The team led by Virginia Tech professor Susan Duncan (pictured left) published their findings in this month’s issue of the Journal of Dairy Science;…
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International Consortium Sequences Bread Wheat Genome
Researchers from the U.S., U.K., and Germany sequenced the genome of the strain of wheat used to make bread, an achievement that is expected to increase yields and enhance the nutritional value of this crop. The findings of the consortium, comprising researchers from 10 different institutions, appear today online in the journal Nature. U.S. Department…
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Fuel Cell Generates Power from Green Roofs, Wetlands
An environmental scientist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands designed a fuel cell that can generate electrical power from living plant roots and soil bacteria found in natural wetlands or vegetation on green roofs of urban buildings. Wageningen’s Marjolein Helder defends her doctoral dissertation today describing the technology, and she has started a company to…
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Swine Genome Offers Insights for Agriculture, Medicine
An analysis of the pig genome by an international consortium highlights genetic mechanisms that can improve breeding practices and show similarities with humans for development of drugs. The findings by the International Swine Genome Sequence Consortium appear online in the journals Nature and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers from North America,…
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New Potato Type Bred for Higher Carotenoid Levels
Researchers with the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed a new breed of potato with higher levels of carotenoids, plant pigments considered beneficial to human health. The work of plant geneticist Kathy Haynes at the Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland is described in the October 2012 issue of Agricultural Research…