AGRIBUSINESS: How plants can generate electricity to power LED light bulbs.

AGRIBUSINESS: How plants can generate electricity to power LED light bulbs.Researchers have discovered that living plants are literally 'green' power source: they can generate, by a single leaf, more than 150 Volts, enough to simultaneously power 100 LED light bulbs. Researchers also showed that an 'hybrid tree' made of natural and artificial leaves can act as an innovative 'green' electrical generator converting wind into electricity. Sustainable energy sources, which are pollution free and environmentally friendly, are one of the key challenges of world's future society. The interdisciplinary team of roboticists and biologists at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Pontedera (Pisa, Italy), found that living plants can help with electricity. Fabian Meder, Barbara Mazzolai and their coworkers at IIT discovered that living plants are literally "green" power source, which may become one of future's electricity supplies that perfectly integrates in natural environments and is accessible all over the world. Researchers discovered that plants can generate, by a single leaf, more than 150 Volts, enough to simultaneously power 100 LED light bulbs. Researchers also showed that an "hybrid tree" made of natural and artificial leaves can act as an innovative "green" electrical generator converting wind into electricity. .

AGRIBUSINESS: Climate change increasing the prevalence of harmful parasite.

AGRIBUSINESS: Climate change increasing the prevalence of harmful parasite.

A rise in a parasite called liver fluke, which can significantly impact livestock production in farms in the UK and across the world, could now be helped by a new predictive model of the disease aimed at farmers. 

 Cattle or sheep grazing on pastures where the parasite is present can become infected with liver fluke, which develops in the liver of infected animals, leading to a disease called fascioliasis. Current estimates suggest liver fluke contributes to around £300 million annually in lost productivity across UK farms and $3 billion globally.  

 Until now, risk predictions have been based on rainfall estimates and temperature, without considering the life-cycle of the parasite and how it is controlled by levels of soil moisture. 

This, combined with shifts in disease timing and distribution attributed to climate change, has made liver fluke control increasingly challenging. A new tool for farmers has now been developed by the Bristol team to help them mitigate the risk to their livestock. 

The model, which works by explicitly linking liver fluke prevalence with key environmental drivers, especially soil moisture, will help farmers decide whether they avoid grazing livestock on certain pastures where liver fluke is more prevalent, or treat animals based on when risk of infection will be at its peak. 

Importantly, the model can be used to assess the impact of potential future climate conditions on infection levels and guide interventions to reduce future disease risk. Professor Thorsten Wagener from Bristol's Cabot Institute added: "Water-related diseases can be difficult to eradicate using medicine alone, as resistance to available drugs is increasing. We need predictive models of disease risk that quantify how strongly infection risk is controlled by our rapidly changing environment to develop alternative intervention strategies."

AGRO-VETERINARY: Whole blood test for toxoplasmosis is sensitive and specific.

AGRO-VETERINARY: Whole blood test for toxoplasmosis is sensitive and specific.Transmission of toxoplasmosis from mother to fetus can lead to severe congenital problems and fetal death, and tests for the parasitic infection during pregnancy are critical. Now, researchers have showed the efficacy of a low-cost whole blood test for toxoplasmosis. Researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have showed the efficacy of a low-cost whole blood test for toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis results from infection with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, usually transmitted to humans from eating undercooked contaminated meat or through exposure to infected cat feces. Existing tests for the infection are serum tests, which require blood samples to be processed using infrastructure and technology which can be prohibitive in developing areas and unaffordable in developed countries like the United States.

Cocoa from Ghana and Ivory Coast feeding multi-billion euro chocolate industry in The Netherlands.

Cocoa from Ghana and Ivory Coast feeding multi-billion euro chocolate industry in The Netherlands.Ghana and the Ivory Coast, its western neighbour, are the two biggest producers of cocoa in the world. And cocoa from these two West African countries is the backbone of the thriving chocolate industry in The Netherlands. According to a report by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the total value of chocolate and semi-finished products including cocoa butter produced in that country and exported, reached €2.8 billion in 2015. That is an increase of 6 per cent on that of 2014 and an “all time-record.”

AGRIBUSINESS: How To Make Jewelry From E-waste.

AGRIBUSINESS: How To Make Jewelry From E-waste.Electronic waste or e-waste, that this technological rubbish is now commonly referred to, is a growing issue and is simultaneously catching the media’s attention at the same rate. The New York Times declared last month that “e-waste offers an economic opportunity as well as toxicity,” due to the rising number of recycling companies being founded, whilst Forbes stunned its audience last year with the prediction that e-waste is to “hit 49.8 million tonnes” by the end of this year. Eliza ‘Lylie’ Walter, the 26-year-old founder of London based women’s and men’s jewellery brand Lylie’s, as it strives to rebel against the industry’s traditional methods of manufacturing because of its troublesome consequences on the environment. she stressed that she felt the accessory industry was lacking in any environmentally aware brands, as it is reported “only 16 percent of e-waste is being recycled – a fact that shocks her website’s visitors. To provide a solution, the brand prides itself on using only salvaged metals, which are typically found in discarded devices such as mobile phones, as a primary source. These metals are then put through a meticulous step by step process, which includes each design being transformed into 3D from sketches, either through carving by hand, or with Computer Aided Design (CAD), as well as 3D printing. The brand's preferred method is wax carving by hand, which can take up to 200 hours per drawing.

AGRIBUSINESS: Under-nutrition a ‘potent accelerant’ of TB(tuberculosis) epidemic.

AGRIBUSINESS: Under-nutrition a ‘potent accelerant’ of TB(tuberculosis) epidemic. Under-nutrition, which affects nearly 800 million people worldwide, is a “potent accelerant” of the global tuberculosis epidemic, impacting disease incidence and treatment outcomes in infected patients, according to researchers. 

 According to the 2018 WHO Global Tuberculosis Report, the global TB burden is not shrinking fast enough to reach milestones set by the End TB Strategy, which aims to reduce TB deaths by 90% and new cases by 80% by 2030. 

To reach those targets, officials say case identification and treatment gaps must be closed and action must be taken to further understand TB. 

 “Under-nutrition is also the leading risk factor for TB and almost one in five cases of TB worldwide can be attributed to it.

 About 800 million individuals worldwide are undernourished due to a panoply of socioeconomic reasons. These unfortunate individuals are incredibly vulnerable to the ravages of the TB epidemic.” Summarizing their review, Sinha and colleagues said the impact that under-nutrition has on TB means addressing it will be a vital component of the End TB Strategy. 

They aimed to investigate its effect on immune response, vaccine response and TB incidence, severity and treatment outcomes.

AGRIBUSINESS: How E-waste affects the environment and our health.

AGRIBUSINESS: How E-waste affects the environment and our health. What is E-waste? E-waste is a short form for electronic waste, it is a term for electronic products that have become unwanted, non-working or obsolete, and have essentially reached the end of their useful life. The effects of improper disposal of e-waste on the environment impacts and pose very real threats and dangers to the global environment at large. Improper disposal of these electronic wastes affect the soil, air, and water components of the environment. AGRIBUSINESS: How E-waste affects the environment and our health. Effects on air One of the most common effect of E-waste on air is through air pollution. For example, a British documentary about Lagos and its inhabitants, called Welcome to Lagos, shows a number of landfill scavengers who go through numerous landfills in Lagos looking for improperly disposed electronics which includes wires, blenders, etc., to make some income from the recycling of these wastes. These men were shown to burn wires to get the copper (a very valuable commodity) in them by open air burning which can release hydrocarbons into the air. Effects on water. When electronics containing heavy metals such as lead, barium, mercury, lithium (found in mobile phone and computer batteries), etc., are improperly disposed, these heavy metals leach through the soil to reach groundwater channels which eventually run to the surface as streams or small ponds of water. Local communities often depend on these bodies of water and the groundwater. Apart from these chemicals resulting in the death of some of the plants and animals that exist in the water, intake of the contaminated water by humans and land animals results in lead poisoning. Some of these heavy metals are also carcinogenic. Effects on soil Heavy metals and chemicals from e-waste enter the “soil-crop-food pathway,” one of the most significant routes for heavy metals’ exposure to humans. These chemicals are not biodegradable—they persist in the environment for long periods of time, increasing the risk of exposure. These dangers posed by improper disposal on the environment ultimately have impacts on human beings -human cost; the health effects of these toxins on humans include birth defects (irreversible), brain, heart, liver, kidney and skeletal system damage. They also significantly affect the nervous and reproductive systems of the human body. When computer monitors and other electronics are burned, they create cancer-producing dioxins which are released into the air we breathe. If electronics are thrown in landfills, these toxins may leach into groundwater and affect local resources. Thus improper disposal of e-waste not only has effects on the environment, it indirectly and ultimately poses grave dangers to humans and livestock.

AGRIBUSINESS: : How to recycle old mobile phones to extract gold and save gorilla population.

AGRIBUSINESS: : How to recycle old mobile phones to extract gold and save gorilla population. "For every 30-40 mobile phones that are recycled, on average, one gram of gold can be recovered," Dr Litchfield says. "Just as mobile phone sales are soaring, and gold content is increasing in some smartphones, natural sources of gold are expected to run out by 2030." UniSA Conservation Psychologist and Great Ape expert Dr Carla Litchfield, the paper's lead author, says if 'conflict' elements -- including gold and coltan -- can be recovered from old mobile phones, there is less incentive to mine gorilla habitats for the same minerals. In Germany, by 2035 it is predicted that more than 8000 tonnes of precious metals will lie in unrecycled mobile and smartphones, and in China, by 2025 an estimated nine tonnes of gold, 15 tonnes of silver and 3100 tonnes of copper will also be out of the supply loop in 0.35 billion unrecycled phones. AGRIBUSINESS: : How to recycle old mobile phones to extract gold and save gorilla population. The link between hoarding disused mobile phones and the decimation of Grauer gorilla habitats is explored in a paper published today in PLOS ONE, authored by University of South Australia researchers and Zoos Victoria. Zoo visitors and the broader Victorian community were educated about the value of recycling discarded phones to extract special metals used in their construction as the same metals which are being mined in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), not only destroying gorilla habitats but also funding wars and human rights abuses. The authors point out the barriers to recycling used phones, including lack of e-waste recycling points in many countries, secrecy around the phones' mineral composition, privacy concerns around accessing old data, and just plain hoarding. Hoarding is a problem since precious metals are not extracted and returned to the circular economy, creating the need to mine these metals in wilderness areas and when people do discard their old phones, most dispose of them in their household waste, ending up in landfill, where they leach toxic metals.

AGRIBUSINESS : Agricultural waste is driving us towards greener transport.

AGRIBUSINESS : Agricultural waste is driving us towards greener transport.Composite materials made from agricultural waste could be used to produce sustainable, lightweight and low-cost applications in the automotive and marine industries. A team of researchers, led by the University of Portsmouth, have developed a bio-composite material using date palm fibre biomass (biomass is a term that includes waste material from plants, food waste and sewage) that can be used in non-structural parts, such as car bumpers and door linings. The date palm fibre polycaprolactone (PCL) bio-composite is completely biodegradable, renewable, sustainable and recyclable, unlike synthetic composites reinforced by glass and carbon fibres. In a study, published in the journal Industrial Crops and Products, the researchers tested the mechanical properties of the bio-composite. They found that the date palm fibre PCL had increased tensile strength and achieved better low-velocity impact resistance than traditional human-made composites.

AGRIBUSINESS: How to Turn Disengaged Employees into Brand Ambassadors.