Data Garden. Plants & Animals News. Can We Save the World by Remixing Life? In 2011, a team of undergraduate students from Imperial College London devised a fresh way of halting the spread of deserts: Make bacteria that will persuade plants to grow more roots. Drylands—areas that get little rain—cover around 40 percent of the Earth’s surface. They are already fragile places and a combination of drought, climate change, overgrazing, and unsustainable farming can finish off any plants precariously clinging to life there.
Without roots to hold the soil together, wind and water erode the top layers, leaving only the infertile lower ones. In this way, more and more land transforms into barren desert with each passing year. There are many possible ways of countering or preventing desertification but the Imperial team wanted to try something new. They added a set of genes to the gut microbe Escherichia coli that allow it to detect malate—a chemical released by plant roots. Individually, the bacteria, genes and hormones are all found in nature. Remixing life. Phys.org - Science News, Technology, Physics, Nanotechnology, Space Science, Earth Science, Medicine.
Angry Grandma Shoots MacBook and iPhone. Here's a grandmother that really can't stand Apple products — she hates them so much, in fact, that she unloads dozens of bullets into a MacBook Pro and a couple of iPhones. Of course, it's all just a marketing campaign for a company called Clearplex, which produces screen protectors for mobile phones, tablets and computers. The video is fun enough to watch, although many commenters on YouTube (and we tend to agree) did not appreciate the somewhat awkward narration that seems to mimic Apple's promo flicks. And, although we've seen Apple products destroyed in the most gruesome ways before, there's just something oddly fascinating about pieces of modern technology being destroyed by bullets.
How do you like the video? Sound off in the comments. Wired.co.uk – Future Technology News and Reviews. Graduate Studies Program. Singularity University’s Graduate Studies Program empowers participants with the tools, knowledge, skills and mindset for delivering real humanitarian impact to 1 billion people. The Graduate Studies Program (GSP) is held every summer at the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, California. Our 10-week immersive learning program accepts 80 participants who either apply directly to SU, or who compete in and win Global Impact Competitions (GIC).
June 14—August 24 Receive priority review Get earlier notification of applicaton status Pay full GSP program fee Initial deadline to apply: December 15, 2013 Final deadline to apply: January 31, 2014 Questions? Compete to be invited to attend the GSP free of charge or at a reduced program fee paid by GIC Sponsors Winners selected during November-February GICs will be offered conditional acceptance to GSP 2014 Questions? Who Should Apply to GSP 2014 The GSP Experience Watch this video series to see what awaits you at GSP 2014 GSP Introduction GSP Solutions.