Solar LEDs, chips to power India's lighting future

Streetlights in the city of Tilburg in Europe can detect the presence of approaching pedestrians and vehicles and ramp up the brightness in front and behind the person/vehicle as they pass by. The streetlights automatically dim when there is no one in the street. This technology, called LumiMotion, developed by Philips, uses sensors to make streetlights power efficient and cut carbon imprint.

BT may have long-term answers for eliminating weeds

"To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds... The soil is this, that thou dost common grow." That is Shakespeare, Sonnet No 69. One can't precisely pin down aweed, identification is subjective. I mean weed in an agricultural context, not its slang usage. One person's weed can be another's crop. With caveat of subjectivity, weeds are undesired growth, usually characterised by more aggressive growth than of desired species. Weeds reduce yields, degrade quality and increase production costs.

Solar, conventional power may cost same by 2017

By 2017, the cost of generating solar power in India could be as low as the cost of buying conventional electricity if the National Solar Mission sticks to its target.

 

Indian poultry farmers show the way out of adversity

Backward and poor families in a district in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan are taking up backyard poultry farming in a big way as a viable livelihood option to compensate for losses in agriculture and raise their standard of living. Poultry farming has reached small and nondescript villages in several panchayat samitis in the district, thanks to the intervention of civil society groups.

GM crops should go back to the lab

Some weeks ago, I was addressing students of molecular biology at the Kerala Agricultural University campus in the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram. During the question-answer session, I asked how many of them would like to take up agricultural biotechnology as a career. To my surprise, only a couple of hands went up.

Indian town of Ladakh sets world record in simultaneous tree-planting

Rubber transforms life of poor tribals in northeastern Indian state of Tripura

Thirteen years ago, Bipin Chandra Debbarma was a poor nomad in the
northeastern Indian state of Tripura. Today, the septugenarian tribal
lives in a concrete house, drives a car and has all the household gadgets
available in the market.
 

'Fight pollution in India with mango, mahogany, banyan, Ashoka trees'

Mango, mahogany, banyan and Ashoka trees should be planted in large numbers to fight air pollution in Indian towns and cities, a horticultural expert has advised.

 

A chef and an agricultural scientist reveal the nutritive benefits of olive moil.

One of the hottest areas of current scientific research involves one of the tastiest ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine—olive oil.

Food security linked to land reform : South Africa President

Government cannot talk about improving food security without referring to land reform, President Jacob Zuma told members of the African Farmers Association of South Africa (AFASA) at a gala dinner, reports SAnews