Almost everybody has experienced one or the other examples of odd climatic event: sudden temperature rise followed by drop in winter, unseasonal rains, long dry spell or too much rain in a very short period etc. last week, everybody experienced such fluctuations much more closely. Neither our physical nor institutional infrastructure is sufficiently agile and…
How Syrians Saved an Ancient Seedbank From Civil War http://www.wired.com/2015/04/syrians-saved-ancient-seedbank-civil-war/?mbid=nl_041715 for those who may not know, it is useful to also recall Cambodian war and how Pol Pot, the dictator had banned cultivation of local varieties and thus tried to destroy the in situ genetic diversity. http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/4637/Encounter%20of%20Cambodian%20rice%20farmers%20with%20war%20and%20rice%20diversity.pdf?sequence=1 (author of this paper not yet known, inform…