12-06-2015, 11:25 PM
A potent fungus is killing off banana plants and could eventually wipe out much of the fruit around the world, according to a new study. Research published in PLOS Pathogens reveals that a disease strain called Tropical Race 4 has affected banana crops in southeast Asia for decades and in recent years has expanded to the Middle East. Eventually the disease is expected to hit Latin America, where the majority of the world’s bananas are grown.
The World’s Most Popular Banana Could Be Wiped Out | TIME
Scientists believe the common diabetes drug metformin could hold the secret of long life and want to start a groundbreaking human trial in 2016
World’s first anti-ageing drug could see humans live to 120 - Telegraph
Mud. Muck. Dirt. Although we have plenty of words for it, we rarely give soil a second thought. But without soil, we would certainly be dead. Soil is crucial to almost every aspect of life on land, from water storage and filtration to climate regulation, flood prevention, nutrient cycling and decomposition. The dirt beneath our feet is also an exceptionally high source of biodiversity: some estimates suggest that at least one quarter of all species live in or on the soil. And we are still discovering its treasures: in January 2015, scientists announced that the first new antibiotic in 30 years had been found in soil bacteria.
BBC - Earth - One amazing substance allowed life to thrive on land
Startup Osaro’s system is designed to make robots learn faster with a combination of deep-reinforcement learning and human help.
From Games to Assembly Lines, Robots Learn Faster Than Ever | MIT Technology Review
Olympic sailor Erik Heil floated a novel idea to protect himself from the sewage-infested waters he and other athletes will compete in during next year’s games: he’d wear plastic overalls and peel them off when he was safely past the contaminated waters nearest shore. Heil, 26, was treated at a Berlin hospital for MRSA, a flesh-eating bacteria, shortly after sailing in an Olympic test event in Rio in August. But his strategy to avoid a repeat infection won’t limit his risk.