Content about research science

The economy appears to be going crazy and unpredictable. However, the economy is always unpredictable and has been "crazy" in the past. It is how we handle the information that determines how people get through the issues.

Show notes

Conversation with Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety, which includes the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

• Can you start by sharing what the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service or FSIS is focused on and what its core missions are? What is FSIS main role/mission in protecting people from food borne hazards?
• What is the size and scope of the FSIS (employees and budget)?

Show notes

The juice industry is a multi billion dollar business world wide. With those dollars comes the opportunity for fraud and counterfeits. Dr. Cynthia Larive, professor of chemistry at UC Riverside, shares how she applys chemical tests to juice products sold as pomegranate juice or pomegranate juice blends, in order to authenticate their contents (press release).

• Why the focus on pomegranate juice?

Updated August 11, 2011: The Apple iPhone, now in it's 4th year, has brought a dramatic shift in how we communicate with people and access information. Key is the integration of widely available software with an always on Internet connection. The iPhone has driven other companies to introduce their own mobile phone ecosystems, greatly increasing the choices for consumers.

Smart phones are a unique tool for those doing research and are in need of field data collection. These sample apps use the smart phone and crowdsourcing to bring data from the field into a lab database. These apps help anyone with an interest in the science to report back observations and sightings of environmental or disease issues. The labs are able to expand their reach in terms of data collection and offer back to others the data for land or operation management decision making.

Show notes

Biofortified and Frank 'n Foode

• What is Biofortified?
• How can people better understand genetically modified organisms (GMO)?
• Who is Frank 'n Foode?
• Why are GMOs portrayed with images of syringes, people in white lab coats, and scary fruit?
• How did Biofortified get started?

Resource links

Including extensions to the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) is one of the actions taken up by the 111th U.S. Congress. This extension seeks to continue the 45-cents per gallon credit given to fuel blenders. What is the VEECT? From Bioenergy Wiki:

Too much data, not enough understanding. How do you quickly pull data, organize it, and then make sense of it all? Several tools and articles are available to help.

Show notes

Like many people, Google, Yahoo!, or Bing are the first places you start a search. Using one of these sites is ingrained into our day to day activities. While these sites are excellent starting points, they are not the only places from which to discover information.

When looking for information on world agriculture, where do you start? The following websites are good starting points. They are not all encompassing but they will get you started.

Use the power of Google Search. For example Google allows you to specify that your search results must come from a given website. For example, the query [ corn site:fao.org ] will return pages about corn but only from fao.org.

University of Illinois Extension offers educational programs in healthy society, food security and safety, environmental stewardship, sustainable and profitable food production and marketing systems, and Enhancing youth, family and community well-being.