Correspondence |
Featured
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Outlook |
Tea
Researchers are uncovering the biological secrets — and potential health benefits — of one of the world’s most consequential plants.
- Herb Brody
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Outlook |
The growth of tea
Genetic studies of today’s tea plants are providing clues to how the plant was first domesticated.
- Liam Drew
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Outlook |
Culturing better tea research
International efforts to enhance the quality of tea are falling short of their potential — mainly because of the way that research is conducted in countries that dominate tea production.
- Jeff Bennetzen
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Outlook |
How climate change might affect tea
Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns can affect the growing season, flavour and health benefits of tea.
- Anna Nowogrodzki
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News |
Sizzling interest in lab-grown meat belies lack of basic research
‘Clean meat’ firms have drawn tens of millions of dollars in investment in recent years, but technical hurdles remain.
- Elie Dolgin
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Comment |
Four steps to food security for swelling cities
Combine pockets of rural land, reduce food waste, improve farming and encourage urbanites to eat less meat, urge Baojing Gu and colleagues.
- Baojing Gu
- , Xiaoling Zhang
- & Deli Chen
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News |
Indian court’s decision to uphold GM cotton patent could boost industry research
But the ruling is not the end of the legal challenge.
- Gayathri Vaidyanathan
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News |
Wild coffee species threatened by climate change and deforestation
The extinction of wild species could jeopardize the viability of commercial coffee varieties.
- Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
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News |
Transgenic trees face rocky path from farm to forest
Report from the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine highlights thorny issues with releasing engineered trees into the wild.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
How African scientists are improving cassava to help feed the world
Researchers in Nigeria are combining genomics and conventional breeding to improve the starchy staple crop.
- Amy Maxmen
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Nature Index |
Yielding results to feed a people
Studies to improve the productivity, resistance and taste of rice crops are central to China’s commanding position in plant biology.
- Hepeng Jia
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Career Feature |
The scientists who feed us
Scientists in the food industry find diverse roles from mediating public-health scares to perfecting meatless burgers.
- David Payne
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Correspondence |
Fear holds back gene-edited crops — educate the public
- Walter P. Suza
- , Alexander W. Kena
- & Michael F. Zeller
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Correspondence |
Heat and soil vie for waste to cut emissions
- Karen L. Johnson
- , Steven A. Banwart
- & Lynsay Blake
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Perspective |
LEDs for photons, physiology and food
This Perspective discusses developments in LED-based solid-state lighting for physiological and agricultural applications, and the anticipated benefits in terms of health and productivity.
- P. M. Pattison
- , J. Y. Tsao
- & B. Bugbee
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News |
Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
Containment measures meant to stop a rampant bacterium have been frequently delayed.
- Alison Abbott
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Research Highlight |
Humans indulged a taste for chocolate a millennium earlier than realized
Evidence from ancient bottles and other objects indicates that South Americans were eating cacao products around 3300 bc.
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Books & Arts |
A call for a rational future, 100 million years of European history, and the hidden horror of the dairy trade: Books in brief
Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week’s best science picks.
- Barbara Kiser
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News |
Strict EU ruling on gene-edited crops squeezes science
Researchers are feeling the pinch and demanding exemptions for plant science and agriculture.
- Andrew J. Wight
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News & Views |
Transforming the global food system
Can the predicted rise in global food demand by 2050 be met sustainably? A modelling study suggests that a combination of interventions will be needed to tackle the associated environmental challenges.
- Günther Fischer
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News Explainer |
The wide world of weed research
As Canada lifts most of its restrictions on studying cannabis, here’s a look at how the rest of the world is faring.
- Elie Dolgin
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News Feature |
What legal weed in Canada means for science
Opportunities abound to improve the cultivation of a once-forbidden plant.
- Elie Dolgin
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News |
Climate change is about to make your beer more expensive
Extreme weather events are expected to reduce global barley production.
- Matthew Warren
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News |
World's largest rice gene bank secures permanent funding
The International Rice Research Institute is home to 136,000 varieties and aims to develop crops resistant to climate change.
- Ewen Callaway
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Correspondence |
Protect Denmark’s groundwater from pesticides
- Christian Sonne
- , Martin Hansen
- & Aage K. Olsen Alstrup
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News |
Big-data project aims to transform farming in world’s poorest countries
Multimillion-dollar programme will gather data on small-scale farms in an effort to reduce hunger and promote rural growth.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Correspondence |
European politicians must put greater trust in plant scientists
- Josep M. Casacuberta
- & Pere Puigdomènech
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Research Highlight |
How a wasp the size of a pinhead may have moved global markets
An insect helped to save a nation’s harvest from an invasive pest — without causing environmental damage.
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News & Views |
Improved nutrient use gives cereal crops a boost
Manipulation of the transcription factor OsGRF4 can improve the efficiency with which some high-yielding cereal crops use nitrogen. This discovery has implications for sustainable agriculture.
- Fanmiao Wang
- & Makoto Matsuoka
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News & Views |
An alternative to controversial pesticides still harms bumblebees
Exposure to a sulfoximine-based pesticide has substantial adverse effects on bumblebee colonies. This finding suggests that concerns over the risks of exposing bees to insecticides should not be limited to neonicotinoids.
- Nigel E. Raine
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News |
‘Green revolution’ crops bred to slash fertilizer use
Researchers have identified a molecule that increases plant growth while reducing the need for nitrogen.
- Jeremy Rehm
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Fox aggression, microbiota and geoengineering
Join Adam Levy and Benjamin Thompson for the latest news from the world of science.
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Letter |
Global land change from 1982 to 2016
Satellite data for the period 1982–2016 reveal changes in land use and land cover at global and regional scales that reflect patterns of land change indicative of a human-dominated Earth system.
- Xiao-Peng Song
- , Matthew C. Hansen
- & John R. Townshend
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Correspondence |
Colombia’s rural development must honour peace agreement
- Luca Eufemia
- , Michelle Bonatti
- & Marcos A. Lana
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News |
CRISPR plants now subject to tough GM laws in European Union
Top court’s ruling threatens research on gene-edited crops in the bloc.
- Ewen Callaway
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News |
Deforestation ticks up in Brazil's savannah
The Cerrado is the most threatened biome in Brazil, environmentalists proclaim.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Editorial |
Europe’s top science advisers send clear message on food production
Report on plant protection highlights the fragmented nature of current decision-making on agriculture.
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World View |
Smarter metrics will help fix our food system
Think less about bigger crop yields, and more about better lives, says Pavan Sukhdev, as more-comprehensive evaluation techniques are unveiled.
- Pavan Sukhdev
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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Spotlight |
Australia makes its mark in biotechnology
Tax breaks have boosted innovation and fuelled overseas investment, but industry insiders fear that threatened budget cuts could slow growth.
- Bianca Nogrady
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News |
Scientists hail European ban on bee-harming pesticides
The European Union has voted to ban three neonicotinoids after scientific evidence showed their risk to bees.
- Declan Butler
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Editorial |
Mushrooms: coming soon to a burger near you
Mushroom–beef blends can tackle expanding waistlines and carbon footprints.
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