Reactions to story from ScienceBlogs

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  Nibbles: Tangled Bank, Banana, Films, Biofuels, DOC

  http://agro.biodiver.se/2008/05/nibbles-tangled-bank-3/
  70 days ago in Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog · Authority: 61

  Tangled Bank 105 is up. Ag-related: safe fugu bred, and canine genetics. Down boy. Gene Expression blogs Banana (the book). Interesting comments too. Indian women make films to protect biodiversity. P’raps they’ll enter our next competition? US to scale back corn-for-booze subsidy by whopping 12%? Sardinian saffron to be protected.
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  Soon we won't have bananas

  http://namloc.typepad.com/inflections/2008/05/post.html
  71 days ago in Inflection points · Authority: 2

  A DISEASE IS SWEEPING ACROSS BANANA PLANTATIONS and the ubiquity of this fruit might be under threat. That's the story according to Razib in his Gene Expression Science Blog. Disappearing bananas? Who'd have thought? Razib, who hails from Bangladesh writes: "Unlike the local cultivars which I was familiar with as a child the modern banana trade is very much an international enterprise. Its origin dates back to the first era of globalization during the 19th century as American entrepreneurs assembled several transnational corporations on the backs of the banana trade..." Razib summarizes the threat laid out in Dan Koeppel's book Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World. Your familiar bananas, such as the Cavendish strain, are all one clone -- in effect a single organism -- which is particularly susceptible to blights like Panama Disease, aka Fusarium oxysporum or more sinisterly, "Agent Green." Razib writes: "So what do we do about the inevitable risk of disease? Of course there are local seeded cultivars which one might attempt to breed via conventional means, but it seems this is simply too slow a process. Replacements for the Cavendish are sub-optimal for a host of reasons (e.g., doesn't taste like a "banana" should). One way to increase the number of options involves genetic modification." And once we whisper the dreaded term "genetic modification," a miasma of political turbulence writhes around the global banana trade, involving Africa, East Asia and the European Union. We have a mess on our hands and perhaps we will lose our favourite fruit. Read Razib's more complete account.
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  Links of Interest

  http://popke-blog.blogspot.com/2008/05/links-of-interest_13....
  71 days ago in Popke - Blog · Authority: 1

  Nothing much to offer. Enjoy the links. ---------------------------------------- World Science Festival WW Telescope Live Stellarium Live The Nature of Genius The Maker Faire Peer Reviewed Time Travel How Crack Gangs Work Real Open Source Architecture - Housing NASA Earth Observer on the China Earthquake Model Rocket Launch in Massachesetts The Genetics of Ensoulment The Economics of Bananas The Secret Life of UFOs Seven Minutes of Martian Terror The Dreaming Life of Leonora de la Cruz

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