An Osaka Metropolitan University researcher quantitatively evaluated the optimal approach for a tomato harvesting robot using image recognition and statistical analysis to maximize the success rate of fruit picking.

Scientists from Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan and the United Kingdom gathered in Rabat, Morocco for a meeting at the British Embassy on precision breeding technologies and their potential for nutritional security.

Goldenberries taste like a cross between pineapple and mango, pack the nutritional punch of a superfood, and are increasingly popular in U.S. grocery stores. But the plants that produce these bright yellow-orange fruits grow wild and unruly—reaching heights that make large-scale farming impractical. Researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) helped solve that problem.

Salt stress, a major challenge to agriculture, impacts apple growth and fruit quality globally. 

A new study published in Biochar reports that sulfur-modified wheat straw biochar can dramatically reduce the toxic effects of vanadium contamination in rice, offering a promising and sustainable strategy to protect global food production in polluted regions. Vanadium is a heavy metal increasingly found in agricultural soils due to mining, smelting, fertilizer overuse, and wastewater irrigation. Even moderate exposure can stunt plant growth, damage photosynthesis, and impair the antioxidant defenses that keep crops healthy.

Researchers are exploiting the unusual hearing of wax moths to develop a sustainable and efficient pest control technique that does not harm bees. These moths can hear sounds four octaves higher than a human can, and this ultrasonic hearing helps them avoid bats food and hear male moth calls. By analyzing which patterns of bat echolocation calls elicited a stronger neural response in the moths, the researchers determined the best ultrasonic deterrent.