Science zone

Earliest Fungus-Like Fossils Discovered in 2.4 Billion-Year-Old South African Bedrock

“An international group of scientists says it has discovered 2.4 billion-year-old fungus-like fossils — approximately 2 billion years older than any previous fungal specimen and a billion or more years earlier than scientists currently think fungi first evolved. If accurate, the finding could reset the spacing of some of the earliest branches on the tree of life.”

Find out more: Earliest Fungus-Like Fossils Discovered in 2.4 Billion-Year-Old South African Bedrock

How to reduce the environmental impact of a loaf of bread?

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Ammonium nitrate fertilizer used in wheat cultivation contributes 43 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in a loaf of bread
100 million tonnes of fertiliser used globally every year
Findings vital to providing solutions to global food security challenge

With an estimated 12 million loaves sold in the UK every day, bread remains a staple of the British diet. In a groundbreaking study researchers from the University of Sheffield have now calculated the environmental impact of a loaf of bread and which part of its production contributes the most greenhouse gas.

Find out more: How to reduce the environmental impact of a loaf of bread?

Sustainable Model of Intensive Agriculture

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It is widely accepted that global food production will have to increase
dramatically over the coming decades to meet the needs of growing
populations and developing economies, and that this will be increasingly
difficult as we feel the effects of climate change. Intensive agriculture
is currently unsustainable so a different path is needed. Sustainable
intensification is heralded as the saviour of agriculture but what
does it mean in practice? This paper sets out a model that combines
the lessons of history with the benefits of modern biotechnology, to
redesign sustainability in intensive agriculture.