AGRIBUSINESS: CROWDFUNDING FOR AGRICULTURAL PROJECTS.

Agriculture is the way to feed the over growing population and also increase revenue generation in various nations. There are various aspects of agriculture,that can be harnessed to make profit and ensure economic growth. Agriculture will not only provide food but also massive employment,thus turning an unemployed person to an employer. The major constraint for these startups is funding, with the astronomical interest rates, a break-even point is not feasible,thus ending the dream of a startup. There is a new way to finance projects without and hassle and cut-throat interest rates and it even gives rooms for mergers and partnerships before you start off and yes, its based on OPM. The OPM (other people's money), slogan made popular by Robert Kiyosaki is the basis of crowdfunding . This has worked in various industries and also works in agriculture; see the video. Crowdfunding , a paradigm shift in agriculture.Join the train and start the agribusiness today!!!

Dietary fibre intake suppresses appetite

Dietary fibre intake suppresses appetite: Big opportunities exist for food manufacturers to tackle obesity through the use of food containing non-digestible inulin fibre to encourage satiety, according to a leading academic.

Omega-3 supply: Climate change could threaten global EPA & DHA supply

Omega-3 supply: Climate change could threaten global EPA & DHA supply: Rising ocean temperatures may reduce EPA and DHA production by phytoplankton, with the effects cascading through the world's ecosystems.

Police use dog's microchip to return wandering toddler home safely.

A 2-year-old girl who wandered away from her Wentzville, Missouri home was returned back to her family with the help of their dog. The little girl woke up from her nap without her parents knowing and walked outside. She ended up blocks from her home. But luckily, the family cockapoo was by her side. At the bus stop on the Tuesday afternoon, Sarah Woodard and her daughter encountered an unusual sight in their neighborhood. “We saw a police officer holding a little girl and a utility worker holding a dog,” said Woodard. The little girl and her dog were found wandering down the busy stretch of Duello Road. That’s when Woodard and neighbors started knocking on doors. “She [little girl] just kept saying, ‘Mom.’ She wanted mommy, that was it,” said Woodard. “We’re all trying to wrack our brains on how to get this little girl home.” All efforts by neighbors proved futile,until an officer looked to the dog and got an idea. With the help of animal control, they scanned the dog’s microchip, which led them to the child’s house in the Bluffs of Heather Glen. Chief Kurt Frisz of the Wentzville Police said, “It was thinking out of the box for the officers.” Frisz said his officers were able to get the toddler home safely. Frisz said the little girl had been gone for about 30 minutes. He also said her parents were unaware the child was not still tucked away in her bed. “The house was child proof. There was one sliding door that was not and I’ll tell you it doesn't take much for a child to slip away quickly,” said Frisz. “It’s an unfortunate incident that turned out okay". read more;http://www.kmov.com/story

Genetically Engineering Algae for Better Biofuel.

The simplest way to make biofuel from algae is to essentially wring out the natural oils and refine them, much like petroleum. Genetic engineering can make this process more efficient. For example, scientists with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography figured out how to curb an enzyme that breaks down the lipids in algae that are crucial for making biofuel. Typically, algae growers “starve” the algae to boost lipid production, but that inhibits growth. The genetically engineered algae can grow quickly while still accumulating lots of lipids. In 2009, a Boeing 737 powered partly by algae took off from Houston and circled over the Gulf of Mexico. The 90-minute test flight was a success, bolstering hopes that algae biofuels, which emit much less carbon than standard gasoline and diesel, could soon power everything from jets to cars. But scientists have struggled to find a way to produce and process algae cheaply enough to compete with petroleum fuel. Now, thanks to advances in genetic engineering, filling up your car with algae-derived biofuel is a step closer to reality. Algae can also be used for biomanufacturing: Microscopic algae are turned into a living machine that can be genetically programmed to produce molecules like lipids and hydrocarbons ideally suited for biofuels. “If you just squeeze the oil out of algae, what you basically get is vegetable oil, which you can convert to diesel,” says Stephen Mayfield, a molecular biologist at the University of California, San Diego. “But because we have complete control of genetics now, we have all the technology to make [algae into] some kind of fancy photosynthetic machine.” Mayfield is using genetically engineered algae only to make drugs and nutritional supplements. But if oil prices rise enough for algae fuels to be cost effective, scientists hope to use what they’ve learned from that process to make biofuels that are both clean and profitable. Read more; http://discovermagazine.com/

Huge long-necked dinosaurs had big, precocious babies.

A research published in the journal of science,that huge long-necked dinosaurs had big, precocious babies The babies of a huge, long-necked dinosaur called Rapetosaurus that lived on the island of Madagascar did not just sit in a nest and look cute. They were born ready for action. Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery of fossils of a baby Rapetosaurus the size of a big dog that apparently starved to death during a drought several weeks after hatching from its soccer-ball-sized egg. Unlike many animal babies, particularly humans, the hatchling Rapetosaurus had adult proportions, meaning it likely did not need significant parental support and was actively foraging for plants rather than waiting for momma to feed it. Such babies are known as "precocial," as opposed to "altricial" offspring that have different body dimensions from adults, cannot get around by themselves and require considerable parental support for food and protection, Macalester College paleontologist Kristi Curry Rogers said. "The main conclusion was that this is the first evidence for a truly precocial dinosaur: one that matured rapidly and without parental care," Adelphi University paleontologist Michael D'Emic added. Rapetosaurus lived about 67 million years ago, not long before the demise of the dinosaurs, and was the largest creature in Madagascar at the time. The baby, known from a partial skeleton including limb bones, pelvic bones, fingers, toes and several vertebrae, was probably around 4 feet (1.2 meters) long from head to tail and weighed between 50 and 90 pounds (23-40 kg) when it died. An adult Rapetosaurus was probably around 40 feet (12 meters) long, a little more than a school bus, and weighed around 16 tons, roughly 2-1/2 times as much as an elephant, Curry Rogers said. It was a medium-sized member of a dinosaur group called titanosaurs, which included the largest land animals ever on Earth. Titanosaurs were part of a larger assemblage of dinosaurs called sauropods, known for their long necks, long tails and voracious appetite for plants. D'Emic said the researchers looked at the microstructure of the baby's bones to see preserved cavities that once held cells, blood vessels and nerves. The density and organization of those indicated a rapidly growing individual, and there was even evidence for bone repair, suggesting an active lifestyle and fast metabolism, D'Emic added. Examples of precocial animals today include most lizards, snakes and reptiles, certain birds and some large mammals including wildebeest. "Precocial young can avoid predation on their own, and there is a much smaller chance of the entire brood succumbing to predation at once," Curry Rogers said. read more ;http://in.reuters.com/article

Drones could speed up HIV tests in remote areas.

Malawi has started a test program that uses drones to improve access to HIV testing for babies. There are various factors such as poor roads and high transport costs, in remote areas that often result in delays in testing. This can prevent access to vital anti retroviral treatment early. Ten percent of Malawians suffer from HIV - one of the highest rates of the deadly condition in the world. Malawi has started testing the use of drones to speed up the time it takes to test infants living in rural areas for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The United Nations' (UN) children's agency UNICEF has partnered with US-based drone company Matternet to develop a program in which Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) pick up sample batches from local health centers and deliver them to specialist laboratories. There are only eight such laboratories across the country, which has a population of more than 16 million. Currently motorbike couriers are used to transport samples across often poorly-maintained roads. UNICEF and Matternet believe deliveries could be made more efficiently by air. The testing program is currently using simulated samples. The first successful test flight recently completed a 10 kilometer route from a community health center to the Kamuzu Central Hospital laboratory in the capital Lilongwe. UAVs have been used in the past for surveillance and assessments of disasters, but this is believed to be the first use of the technology on the continent for the improvement of HIV services. "There are many delays in the continuum of getting HIV positive children on treatment, they need to come in early for testing, ideally before two months, between six and eight weeks, their tests, the dry bloodspots need to get from the health facilities to one of the eight laboratories nationwide," said Judith Sherman, head of Unicef Malawi's HIV and Aids program. The plan is eventually for UAVs to be operated by health workers by virtue of a password and a GPS signal on their mobile phone. A simple swipe of a button will make the vehicle airborne. Each drone costs $7,000 USD but minimal battery charging costs make them cheaper over time than diesel fueled motorbikes. In 2014, about 40,000 children in Malawi were born to HIV positive mothers, according to UNICEF. Every year around 10,000 children die of the virus, a number the agency says could be tackled by early diagnosis and quality medical care. An estimated one million Malawians were living with HIV in 2013 and 48,000 died from HIV-related illnesses in the same year. A young child may be infected by their HIV-positive mother during pregnancy or breast-feeding, but drug treatment can reduce the risk of transmission. UNICEF estimates that if the flights are cost-effective the drones would be able to carry up to 250 tests at once. read more here;http://in.reuters.com/article/us-malawi-hiv-drones