http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Cambridge have discovered that a lowly grape variety grown by peasants - but despised by noblemen - during the Middle Ages was the mother of many of today`s greatest grape varieties, including the Chardonnay used in Champagne. http://www.physorg.com/news180366830.html Biology Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:54:21 EST news180366830 (PhysOrg.com) -- Until recently, the genetic code of canola was a mystery. Australian researcher Dr David Edwards, in collaboration with Bayer CropScience and Keygene N.V., is the first in the world to have solved the code, discovering the sequence of the canola genome. http://www.physorg.com/news176727844.html Biology Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:30:02 EST news176727844 Once-in-a-lifetime floods in the Philippines, India's delayed monsoon, and extensive drought in Australia are taking their toll on this year's rice crops, demonstrating the vulnerability of rice to extreme weather. http://www.physorg.com/news174911666.html Biology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:00:02 EST news174911666 (PhysOrg.com) -- Two University of Georgia scholars argue against the conventional wisdom that the 20th century was a disaster for vegetable crop diversity by showing that there was no overall loss of vegetable diversity in that era. http://www.physorg.com/news172238808.html Biology Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:20:03 EST news172238808 Have you ever gotten sick of pizza, playing the same computer game, or had a song stuck in your head for so long you never wanted to hear it again? If you have, you may suffer from variety amnesia. In new research, Joseph Redden, professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, may have found a cure for your satiation blues. http://www.physorg.com/news161953375.html Other Sciences Tue, 19 May 2009 12:03:29 EST news161953375 (PhysOrg.com) -- Usually, we think of spacetime as being four-dimensional, with three dimensions of space and one dimension of time. However, this Euclidean perspective is just one of many possible multi-dimensional varieties of spacetime. For instance, string theory predicts the existence of extra dimensions - six, seven, even 20 or more. As physicists often explain, it`s impossible to visualize these extra dimensions; they exist primarily to satisfy mathematical equations. http://www.physorg.com/news157203574.html Physics Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:40:14 EST news157203574 (AP) -- Researchers are deploying new wheat varieties with an array of resistant genes they hope will baffle and defeat Ug99, a highly dangerous fungus leapfrogging through wheat fields in Africa and Asia. http://www.physorg.com/news156517628.html Biology Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:09:00 EST news156517628 Scientists at the University of Liverpool have been awarded £1.7 million to decode the genome of wheat, in order to help farmers increase the yield of British wheat varieties. http://www.physorg.com/news153574404.html Biology Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:34:23 EST news153574404 A new, late-ripening apple named WineCrisp(TM) which carries the Vf gene for scab resistance was developed over the past 20 plus years through classical breeding techniques, not genetic engineering. License to propagate trees will be made available to nurseries through the University of Illinois. http://www.physorg.com/news151842022.html Biology Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:21:30 EST news151842022 "Waterproof" versions of popular varieties of rice, which can withstand 2 weeks of complete submergence, have passed tests in farmers' fields with flying colors. Several of these varieties are now close to official release by national and state seed certification agencies in Bangladesh and India, where farmers suffer major crop losses because of flooding of up to 4 million tons of rice per year. This is enough rice to feed 30 million people. http://www.physorg.com/news146488570.html Biology Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:16:10 EST news146488570 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Adelaide researchers have identified new sources of stem and leaf rust resistance in wild grass relatives of wheat sourced mostly from the 'fertile crescent' of the Middle East. http://www.physorg.com/news143817302.html Biology Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:15:02 EST news143817302 Vinegar flies (Drosophila melanogaster) show a highly selective behavior towards odor stimuli. A series of behavioral studies showed that a single olfactory stimulus is often not sufficient for immediate attraction to potential food sources or oviposition sites. Interestingly, the behavior differed between investigated D. melanogaster varieties, so-called "wildtypes". http://www.physorg.com/news142156975.html Biology Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:02:55 EST news142156975 Maize was first domesticated in the highlands of Mexico about 10,000 years ago and is now one of the most important crop plants in the world. It is a member of the grass family, which also hosts the world's other major crops including rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, and sugar cane. As early agriculturalists selected plants with desirable traits, they were also selecting genes important for transforming a wild grass into a food plant. Since that time, Mexican farmers have created thousands of varieties suitable for cultivation in the numerous environments in the Mexican landscape -from dry, temperate highlands to moist, tropical lowlands. Because of its importance as food, the need to improve yield, and the challenges presented by changing climate, the maize genome of the B73 cultivar is being sequenced. However, because maize has a complex genome and many varieties, the genome sequence from just one variety will not be adequate to represent the diversity of maize worldwide. Mexican scientists are also sequencing and analyzing the genomes of the ancient landraces to recapture the full genetic diversity of this complex and adaptable crop. http://www.physorg.com/news133663767.html Biology Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:49:27 EST news133663767