Farmers grapple with unpredictable harvests as seasons become erratic: 'This is kind of scary'
Rising global temperatures caused by the climate crisis are affecting grape yields, according to new research from Cornell AgriTech.
"In New York, we are right at the coldest edge that grapevines can tolerate, so as things get warmer, it's great for the middle of winter, but it's not great for the spring and fall, because it messes with the signaling grapes need," said Jason Londo, associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Horticulture Section, at Cornell AgriTech in the Phys.org article.
The new research, published in the Journal of Experimental Botany, included the study of 31 grape varieties over a period of three years. Researchers wanted to know which external signals and genetic pathways inform grapevines that it's time to grow buds for the spring.
They concluded that wild grape varieties that adapted to survival in the cold of Northern winters were most vulnerable to late frosts since they were quickest to develop buds in the spring. The team also found that commercial hybrids including these wild varieties were almost as vulnerable.
"And this is kind of scary because for decades we've been breeding and planting grapes for deep midwinter hardiness, which brings along with it this trait of waking up early. But now our winters are getting warmer and more erratic, so those cultivars are more at risk for late frost damage," Londo said in the Phys.org article.
As the climate crisis worsens, rising global temperatures are affecting our food supply, impacting farms and those who depend on crop yields for their livelihood. Less product also leads to higher costs at grocery stores.
The overheating of our planet affects other plant life as well, disrupting ecosystems and damaging entire food webs.
Research can help inform new farming practices to adapt to our changing weather, and encourage reforms to reduce pollution.
What is the biggest reason you don't grow food at home?
Not enough time
Not enough space
It seems too hard
I have a garden already
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
One key change farmers can make in the face of rising temperatures is planting a diverse variety of crops, Londo explained.
While farmers adapt to current changes, other major efforts will be critical to reduce pollution. Countries working to decarbonize and major companies expanding their work to decrease pollution output could make a huge impact for the future.
In our daily lives, we can each do our part by electrifying our homes and vehicles, reducing consumption, and recycling.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fast Company
8 hours ago
- Fast Company
Sorry, lefties: New research shows left-handers aren't more creative after all
A new study from Cornell University goes against the grain of popular thought, arguing that left-handed people aren't necessarily more creative than their right-handed counterparts after all. It's research that hits close to home for this writer. From an early age, I've worn my left-handedness as a badge of pride. As a kid, I always felt different from the other students in class, because I had to use a left-handed desk. Back then, I also had to use special scissors in home economics, bat on the 'wrong' side of the plate at softball . . . the list goes on. But despite the minor inconveniences, it was a label I readily embraced because I was told I was 'special' (only 10% of the population is left-handed) and, perhaps most of all, because I knew I was in good company. Who wouldn't want to be a member of a club that includes Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Aristotle, one of the Beatles, Bill Gates, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Babe Ruth, Bart Simpson, Oprah, and Jerry Seinfeld? In fact, five out of the last eight presidents have been left-handed: Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. (President Trump is a rightie.) To this day, I still make a mental note of who is and is not a lefty. Picasso and John Lennon aren't, but Paul McCartney is. So is my best friend, Gaby, my editor, Connie, and my boss, Christopher. It's a secret club we lefties share, believing there is something just a little special, a little more creative about us. That's why the new research from Cornell stopped me in my tracks. The science of creativity In ' Handedness and Creativity: Facts and Fictions,' published in the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, researchers argue that while there's a plausible link between creativity and handedness based on theories that look at the neural basis of creativity, they found no evidence that left- or mixed-handed individuals are more creative than right-handers. In fact, they even found right-handers scored statistically higher on one standard test of divergent thinking (the alternate-uses test). 'The data do not support any advantage in creative thinking for lefties,' said the study's senior author, Daniel Casasanto, associate professor of psychology at Cornell. And while the Cornell researchers acknowledge that left- and mixed-handers may be overrepresented in art and music, they argue that southpaws are underrepresented in other creative professions, like architecture. When determining which professions constitute creative fields, researchers drew on data from nearly 12,000 individuals in more than 770 professions, which were ranked by the creativity each requires. By combining 'originality' and 'inductive reasoning,' they concluded that physicists and mathematicians rank alongside fine artists as having the most creative jobs. Using this criteria—and considering the full range of professions—the researchers found that left-handers are underrepresented in fields that require the most creativity. 'The focus on these two creative professions where lefties are overrepresented, art and music, is a really common and tempting statistical error that humans make all the time,' Casasanto said. 'People generalized that there are all these left-handed artists and musicians, so lefties must be more creative. But if you do an unbiased survey of lots of professions, then this apparent lefty superiority disappears.' Casasanto did agree, however, that there are scientific reasons to believe that left-handed people would have an edge in creativity when it comes to 'divergent thinking'—the ability to explore many possible solutions to a problem in a short time and make unexpected connections—which is supported more by the brain's right hemisphere. But again, the study revealed that handedness makes little difference in the three most common laboratory tests of its link to divergent thinking; if anything, righties have a small advantage on some tests. Finally, researchers conducted their meta-analysis by crunching the data from nearly 1,000 relevant scientific papers published since 1900. Most were weeded out because they did not report data in a standardized way, or included only righties (the norm in studies seeking homogeneous samples), leaving just 17 studies reporting nearly 50 effect sizes. This may be why the newest study came to a different conclusion than what is held in popular belief or prior scientific literature.
USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
James Greig Discusses Trends in Academia, Including Online Education and AI
For 14 years, James W. Greig II has served as an adjunct instructor at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to his teaching career, Dr. Greig was a member of the U.S. Air Force and went on to pursue higher education. He possesses degrees from Cornell University, Ball State University, University of Colorado Boulder and Capella University, where he received a Doctor of Philosophy in educational psychology. The Pandemic's Impact on Education 'It's not exactly new, but the growth of online education is something I think has raised some concerns,' Dr. Greig says. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on education, forcing elementary, high school and college students to attend online courses to continue their education during the lockdowns. The fallout from that time has caused concern among educators and parents. There are indications that students who had to attend school at the elementary and high school level were noticeably behind where other students would have been at that same point in their education. While college students are more independent and self-motivated, younger students rely more on their parents for assistance. How much parents can help often depends on their own educational experience. Dr. Greig strives to study this topic, concentrating on elementary and high school students. Education is also being impacted by artificial intelligence (AI). 'The concerns about online education should be focused on the elementary grades because that's where the difficulties lie. For college students, the concern is different. There are some concerns that some students may use AI to generate papers,' Dr. Greig explains. It is estimated that between 60% to 70% of college students regularly use AI tools in their coursework. Dr. Greig does believe there is a role for AI in education, but not when it entails writing papers. Instead, he thinks there are practical uses, such as generating an outline or a reference list. Those would be acceptable in his estimation. Expanding Focus and Investing Time Dr. Greig attributes his successful career in academia to his openness to new ideas and knowledge outside his field of expertise. He prides himself on being willing to try new things and invests his time and effort in any project that presents itself. 'I'm never satisfied with something done part way. I want to see projects through to completion,' Dr. Greig says. Dr. Greig enjoys working with others and always maintains an open mind to the suggestions and ideas of others, though he refuses to take shortcuts. His goal is to bring a project to completion by doing things the right way and ensuring the final product can do what is required. It's this willingness to explore 'new areas, new ideas and new efforts' that Dr. Greig believes puts him at the forefront of his field. He has noticed that many people are unwilling to explore beyond their comfort zone, choosing instead to narrow their focus on their area of expertise. 'I've never felt that way, so I'm always willing to explore things that maybe I'm not quite so sure about that helped me grow,' Dr. Greig explains. About Marquis Who's Who®: Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms worldwide. The suite of Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who's Who® website,
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Attention stargazers! It's time for one of the best meteor showers of the year — the Perseids
You know that summer is winding down when it's time for the Perseid meteor shower. The shower is considered one of if not the best of the year, mainly due to it being summer in the northern hemisphere, when the skies tend to be clear (unless there's smoke) and the weather is warmer. This is contrary to the Geminid meteor shower, which rivals the Perseids in terms of how many meteors can be seen per hour, but occurs in December when it tends to be cloudier and much colder. You can catch a meteor on any given night, particularly if you're outside of a city, away from light pollution. But meteor showers are special. Instead of the periodic streak against the starry sky, you can potentially see a dozen or more an hour. When to watch We get this stunning and typically reliable shower each year thanks to debris left over from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which has an orbit of 133 years and was last in the inner solar system in 1992. Every year, Earth plows through the comet's debris, which in turn enters Earth's atmosphere, burning up as beautiful streaks in the sky. Try this interactive map that shows how Earth passes through the meteor shower: Most meteor showers get their name from the constellation from which the meteors seem to originate, called the radiant. In this case the radiant is the constellation Perseus, which begins to rise in the northeast around 9 p.m. local time. But it's important to note that you don't have to look directly at the constellation. Just look up. This year, the shower runs from July 17 to Aug. 23, but it peaks on the night of Aug. 12-13. On this night, under ideal conditions — dark, cloud-free, smoke-free, clear skies — the shower could produce roughly 100 meteors per hour. However, you're unlikely to see that many or even half of them this year due to one major problem: the moon. Down but not out The moon will be roughly 84 per cent illuminated, which means it will wash out all but the brightest meteors. "This year, the moon just kills them," said Peter Brown, Canada Research Chair in Planetary Small Bodies and professor at Western University's department of physics and astronomy in London, Ont. The other issue is smoke from wildfires. "It's just like cloud. It's going to decrease the the amount of light that gets through," Brown said. "So, you know, if you have the full moon and there's still quite a bit of smoke or high cloud, you're probably only looking at a handful of meteors an hour." But the great thing about the Perseids is that they tend to produce very bright meteors and even some fireballs. As well, you can get some really good "earth grazers" — meteors that skim our atmosphere. These last longer than a typical meteor streaking across the sky. "On the 12th, and even better, on the 13th, there'll be an hour or two right after sunset where the moon either won't be there [or] it'll be low and the radiant is low, but the activity is high enough and you'll see the grazers," Brown said."You're not going to see 50 of those an hour, but you might see a handful, and they last a long time. They're super spectacular. If ever a meteor looks like fireworks, it's a grazing Perseid meteor." So, the message is, don't give up. Grab a blanket, lie down — with the moon behind you — and look up. The Perseids rarely disappoint. "Yes, the moon will be up. It'll be bright, but there'll be so many meteors and bright ones, you'll still see a pretty decent show," Brown said. WATCH | It's time for the Perseids, one of the best meteor showers of the year Solve the daily Crossword
