The Dutchess and the Duke - Hands
Thorium, Thulium and Thallium
→ Curious, eh?
Apprenticing chemist.
The following make me endlessly happy: Science, documentaries, swings and trampolines, books and libraries, dinosaurs and megafauna, bikes, orchids, museums, singing to my dog, dancing around for no reason, cartoons of all sorts.
The following make me endlessly happy: Science, documentaries, swings and trampolines, books and libraries, dinosaurs and megafauna, bikes, orchids, museums, singing to my dog, dancing around for no reason, cartoons of all sorts.
→ Curious, eh?
When I close my eyes and imagine a dream home, this is what comes up. I WANT TO GO TO THERE.
Genetically modified grass could make superweed problem worse
A genetically engineered grass expected to hit U.S. markets without government review could speed the evolution of hard-to-control weeds, and perhaps require a return to toxic herbicides scrapped decades ago.
On July 1 — a Friday afternoon, a time usually reserved for potentially controversial news — the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Scotts Miracle-Gro’s herbicide-resistant Kentucky bluegrass would be exempt from tests typically required of transgenic crops.
Scotts Miracle-Gro is the largest U.S. retailer of grass seed, and the modified grass could be widely used in residential lawns. It’s resistant to glyphosphate, a front-line herbicide known commercially as Roundup.
The grass will survive extra doses of Roundup, allowing more than usual to be applied. That’s the problem, said agricultural biotechnology expert Douglas Gurian-Sherman of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“The more a chemical is used consistently, the more likely that somebody’s weeds will become resistant. That’s standard, agreed-upon science,” said Gurian-Sherman. “The way that Roundup is used because of transgenic crops exacerbates that problem.”
This is rage-inducing. Genetically modified grass? Really? Americans just cannot bear to have imperfect lawns. Have fun with your DDT and birth defects, jerks.
Gecko and Palm Frond
Photograph by Lorenzo Menendez, Your Shot
A small gecko pokes his head out from between the ridges of a palm leaf. How I ever saw him I will never know.
Two of my life goals - to star-gaze in a desert to be able to see the Milky Way, and to watch the Aurorae.
(via krystipryde)
