Can better photosynthesis help feed the world?
As human population growth fuels the need for increased crop yields, researchers look to engineer plants that perform photosynthesis more efficiently.
February 20, 2019 — In the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, layers of colorful bacteria grow in thick mats. Near the water’s surface, the green organisms photosynthesize like plants do, using light and chlorophyll to split water molecules and make sugar. Farther down in the mats, the microbes are black. Researchers long assumed that plant-like photosynthesis is not possible for this layer of organisms because they don’t have access to enough visible light. And yet, on the very bottoms of those algal mats is a layer of green where no green should be. So why is it here, where almost no light reaches?
Read MoreOPINION: Changing the Global Food Narrative
The dominant story about the future of the world food supply is logical, well known and wrong.
November 12, 2013 — There’s a powerful narrative being told about the world’s food system — in classrooms, boardrooms, foundations and the halls of government around the world. It’s everywhere. And it makes complete sense when you listen to it. The problem is, it’s mostly based on flawed assumptions.
You’ve probably heard it many times. While the exact phrasing varies, it usually goes something like this: The world’s population will grow to 9 billion by mid-century, putting substantial demands on the planet’s food supply. To meet these growing demands, we will need to grow almost twice as much food by 2050 as we do today. And that means we’ll need to use genetically modified crops and other advanced technologies to produce this additional food. It’s a race to feed the world, and we had better get started.
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