Extreme weather and pollution have increased the salt content in some soil, making growing conditions harsh for salt-sensitive crops like rice. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano detail a possible solution that doesn’t require genetic modification to make rice plants thrive in these conditions. In lab experiments, they determined that coating rice seedlings with magnesium-doped carbon dots — derived from durian peels — increased the seedlings’ antioxidant activity and photosynthesis, reducing the stress caused by salty soil.  

Increasing heat, droughts, floods, and salinization caused by climate change are lowering the amount of edible food produced by our staple crops. Since taking over more land for agriculture isn’t sustainable, our only path forward is to adapt the crops themselves to the new conditions. We have two options—domestication of crops’ wild relatives which are more resilient but have a lower yield, or including resilience genes in modern high-yield crops. Writing in Frontiers in Science, researchers discuss these possibilities and the critical need for more funding, research, and public understanding.

A research team at the University of Göttingen, Germany’s Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) in Rhede, and the Thünen Institute in Braunschweig has investigated the importance of limestone quarries for wild bee conservation. Diverse landscapes with good connectivity between quarries and calcareous grasslands proved to be particularly valuable. Calcareous grasslands – meaning grasslands on chalk or limestone soils – are exceptionally rich in plant and animal species, making them valuable ecosystems. Quarries with a lot of shrub encroachment, on the other hand, had a lower species diversity. Endangered bee species were more common in large quarries. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

Americans love their corn — whether it’s canned, fresh off the cob or in their favorite breakfast cereal.

But what if this staple grain could be more than just a starch? What if it could become a critical source of protein and fiber while helping prevent cancer, obesity, diabetes and inflammation?

It can, University of Missouri researchers say. And the secret is in the color.