Chloropicrin was first synthesized in 1848 by Scottish chemist John Stenhouse but only became an agricultural tool in 1920, when it was used to cure tomato "soil sickness." After that success it was used to restore pineapple productivity in Hawaii and to address soil fungal problems in California.…

&To predict the fate of species, ecologists use computer models that consider individual species in isolation but reality does not work that way. Species are part of a giant network of mutual dependencies: For example, plants need insects to disperse their pollen and, in turn, insects depend on…

After exposing more than 70 million grain amaranth seeds to a soil-based herbicide, researchers were not able to find a single herbicide-resistant mutant, according to a report in the journal Weed Science. The findings suggest that the mutation rate in amaranth is very low, and that low-level…

Stretching the day beyond what nature provides has provided numerous cultural benefits for humans but a new study has linked nighttime illumination caused by people to decreased amphibian reproduction. The authors of a recent experiment exposed wood frogs to a control and two anthropogenic light…

Many African higher education institutions are under tremendous pressure to produce innovative research to solve local problems. They are encouraged to produce their country’s next generation of innovators. Scholarly journals and the popular press call on these institutions to drive their nation’s…

A team of scholars from Mainz University Medical Center and Goethe University Frankfurt used an experiment to create what they believe is a harmful effect on bees using neonicotinoids in field-relevant concentrations. The effect, they believe, is to reduce the concentration of acetylcholine, a…

More kids in Germany are getting prescriptions for psychotropic drugs than ever before, according to the results of a new study. On the basis of nationwide statutory health insurance data, the authors analyzed prescribing rates and rates of new prescriptions, as well as the groups of doctors who…

Imagine you’re sitting at an important job interview. You’re suitably dressed and have taken the time to do your hair and apply some makeup. You’re smiling, answering questions, and attempting to appear competent, and, obviously, hireable. The panel, made up of men and women, aren’t giving anything…

The European Journal of Psychotraumatology has mandated sex and gender data for all papers before they will be published. Editor-in-Chief Miranda Olff and Shirin Heidari, a member of the European Association of Science Editors’ Gender Policy Committee, drafted the new guidelines they believe will…

American social psychologists and partisan science journalists talk so much about how they are superior to conservatives it is almost like they believe American conservatives are a separate species.  And they may be, because conservatives seem to be much happier than liberals. A new paper analyzed…