How do you feed the world when the world doesn’t have the water to feed itself? — Rishi R. Masalia A finalist for the 2016 University of Georgia 3 Minute Thesis competition, Rishi R. Masalia talks about global water scarcity and how his PhD dissertation can help! If you’re interested in this topic and want
It's almost summer time. That means it's about to be mosquito season! These masters of annoyance happen to be the world's most deadly animal. No other animal species is responsible for as many human deaths as mosquitoes are. Humans murder about 475,000 other people each year. You know those creepy slithering snakes you fear so
If you're wondering whether Earth's temperatures are rising, or whether people are responsible for global warming, then check out Hilde’s previous posts on climate change. Would global warming be really all that bad? We associate wintertime weather with unpleasantries like halting the agricultural growing season, overflowing of homeless shelters, and imperiling drivers. What will happen if
We need to do more, faster. The food crisis is permanently harming millions of children. They need our help. This is about even more than alleviating human suffering; it is about global peace and stability. –Ban-Ki Moon, UN Secretary General, 2009 Globally, we are food insecure. Rampant food waste, coupled with climate change and unrestricted
Water holds the key to sustainable development. We need it for health, food security, and economic progress. Yet, each year brings new pressures. — Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, 2013 The distribution and availability of water are defining features of life. As populations increase and global temperatures rise due to human-induced climate change, we will see
Everyone has seen it: a panning video showing thousands of miles of Arctic ice. This is usually followed by that same area now enveloped in water with the obligatory polar bear floating on a miniscule ice float. As polar bears rely heavily on sea ice as protective cover to hunt seals, their main food source,
Link One (Carbon Pools), Link Two (U.S. Electricity Sources), Link Three (Basin-Decatur Project), Link Four (Wave Energy) Graham Grable is an undergraduate student in the College of Engineering. Between playing with Arudinos and hanging out with friends, he can be found saving Jebediah in Kerbal Space Program. You can find him online at grahamgrable.com or email
Plastic is probably the most important material in our lives today. We see it all around us and use it all the time. So much so that we throw away enough plastic waste each year to circle the planet four times. Why do we consume so much plastic? Sure, it makes our lives more comfortable,
Links: Sunflower Domestication, Corn Domestication, Wayne Parrott’s GMO Talk, Scientific Article 1, Scientific Article GMO and Crop Domestication, Scientific Article 3 (paywall),UN Food and Agriculture Organization Book Chapter, Nonfiction book partially covering this topic Rishi R. Masalia is a Ph.D graduate student in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia studying the
Is it right to allocate a portion of our food crops for producing fuel? What the problem really boils down to is energy. In the past decade or so, worldwide biodiesel and bioethanol production have increased fivefold. Worryingly the vast majority of that biofuel originated from ethanol was obtained from corn in the US. This
[Water in the 21st Century, part 2] Link 1 (IDA), Link 2 (Reverse Osmosis), Link 3 (CA desalinization), Link 4 (Desalinization energy) Rishi R. Masalia is a Ph.D graduate student in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia studying the genetics of drought resistance. He is a biologist, bioinformatician, artist, comedy gold
[Water in the 21st Century series, part 1] Link 1, Link 2, Link 3 Rishi R. Masalia is a Ph.D graduate student in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia studying the genetics of drought resistance. He is a biologist, bioinformatician, artist, comedy gold mine, smooth dance machine and all around nerd.
