Texas beekeepers lost 61% of their honey bee colonies — nearly 60,000 hives over the past year, according to the most recent statewide survey of more than 400 beekeepers.

This was one of the steepest declines in beehives ever recorded in Texas, said Garett Slater, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service honey bee specialist and assistant professor in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Entomology based at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton.

KIMM’s research team has succeeded in developing the world’s first ultra-high-temperature plasma torch powered entirely by hydrogen. Operating at 1,000–2,000 °C, the torch decomposes mixed waste plastics in less than 0.01 seconds. By controlling the reaction temperature and time, the researchers achieved selectivity levels of 70–90% and ethylene yields exceeding 70%. After purification, more than 99% of the output could be secured as high-purity raw materials for plastic manufacturing.

This year’s Africa Food Systems Summit 2025, in Dakar, Senegal, focuses on Africa’s youth and how they can lead collaboration, innovation, and the implementation of agri-food systems transformation for a stronger and more resilient food value chain.

It is estimated that some 500 million smallholder farmers around the world produce around 35-46 percent of the world’s food to help feed just over 8 billion people living on our fragile planet. Smallholder farmers are crucial for global food security. But how can their agricultural practices be more sustainable and safer, reducing contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins and pesticide residues? How can they protect themselves and the environment from pesticide risks? How can young people drive transformation?