Bananas – one of the world’s top five staple foods – may become extinct in just five to 10 years due to fast-advancing fungal diseases, scientists have warned. Researchers at the University of California, Davis discovered how three fungal diseases have evolved into a lethal threat to the world’s bananas. The discovery better equips researchers to develop hardier, disease-resistant banana plants and more effective disease-prevention treatments. “We have demonstrated that […]

Google boss Eric Schmidt predicted on Thursday that the Internet will soon be so pervasive in every facet of our lives that it will effectively “disappear” into the background.   Speaking to the business and political elite at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Schmidt said: “There will be so many sensors, so many devices, that you won’t even sense it, it will be all around you.”   “It will […]

As thoughts turn to warm weather and gardening, it’s a good time to consider planting flowering trees, shrubs and other plants that are attractive to bees, butterflies and other pollinators. You can beautify your yard, diversify the landscape and feed and protect pollinators, all at the same time. The bees need you. Honeybee colonies are dying at frightening rates. Since 2007, an average of 30% of all colonies have died […]