Food

The Amazon's dense thickets hold untold - and undiscovered - secrets. (Photo by Dams999 / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

A discovery in the Peruvian Amazon of a plant decked in plump, lime-green pods rich in omega-3s could offer some respite to trees that live under the threat of deforestation. Found in a Peruvian farmer’s garden, the new plant, christened Plukenetia carolis-vegae, is offering researchers a creative option as a ‘conservation crop’, Nature News reports.

    Tuna run. [Photo: Aziz T. Saltik / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

Every year, Pacific bluefin tuna zigzag the Pacific Ocean, hurtling from the Japanese coast where they spawn, to the California and Mexico coasts, then back to Japan to breed. Scientists have long tried to track the bluefin via electronic tags, to plot its crisscrossed network across the seas. But tagging is expensive and difficult on the gargantuan, stroppy fish. Now, scientists may have another feasible tracking method: use remnants from Fukushima’s nuclear blast.

But which fish is it? Photo by Karsten Elmose Vad / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A short while ago, Americans were stunned by research from conservation group Oceana, which showed that at some point between baited line and dinner plate, roughly 30 percent of the country’s fish is mislabeled—a process that’s being recognized increasingly as organized seafood fraud. The motivation? Somewhere along the supply chain, people see the benefit of disguising fish that are cheaper, more abundant, or less desirable as fancier fare. But mislabeling seafood could have impacts not only on people, who might eat fish that they shouldn’t, but on the oceans as well, as lines between legal and illegal catch begin to blur. 

A bee visits a sunflower. Photo by TexasEagle / CC BY-NC 2.0

Turns out wilder is better, at least when it comes to pollinating fruity crops. Research published in Science last week suggests that domesticated honeybees—harvested by beekeepers and then employed to pollinate vast expanses of cropland around the world—are actually less efficient than wild pollinators are. The authors suggest farmers revert to an agricultural system that favors wild pollinators, instead of toying with monoculture and vast genetically modified crops the way we have to produce the food we eat. 

Lake Nicaragua, where some of the prototypes are being tested. (Photo by jeffr_travel /CC BY-SA 2.0)

The next agricultural innovation is embodied by a raft of floating greens, gliding glibly across the surface of a lake. The design, pioneered by researchers in Costa Rica, is built with parts of the world like sub-Saharan Africa in mind, where there may be large lakes, but conversely, little rainfall for successful crop irrigation.

In each issue of Audubon, the editors review a mix of narrative nonfiction titles, as well as art books and children’s books about nature. For ease, we’ve compiled the dozens of fantastic works we reviewed in 2012 in one place, and we’ve added a few additional books that we covered exclusively online.

Photo by Andrea Pokrzywinski / CC BY 2.0

AquaBounty, the company behind a fast-growing genetically engineered salmon, told the Associated Press last week that it will run out of money by January if it cannot raise more funds.

The Union Square Greenmarket, the centerpiece of a five-block plaza at Broadway and Park and GrowNYC’s flagship market, reassuringly sprouts up every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. But during what became a long, dark week for many New Yorkers, the market didn’t appear, shuttered by Hurricane Sandy.

It wasn’t the only one. When the storm hit hardest—Tuesday and Wednesday of last week—all 20 of the farmers’ markets that typically run those days were closed. Slowly they’re reopening, relocating when necessary, to ensure the availability of fresh, local produce for city-dwellers and a return to normalcy for the farms that count on the markets for income.

We spoke with three farmers about their Hurricane Sandy experience.

A state constitutional amendment would give Arizona sovereign authority over the Grand Canyon (above)  and 19 other national park units.

UPDATE: Of the five measures, four were defeated. Click through for the results.

After a record-spending campaign season, Election Day is finally here. While much of the national focus will be on the Presidential race and which party will end up controlling the Senate, voters in several states are voting on measures that are of interest to any environmentalist. Here’s a look at five of these, which could affect everything from foods lining grocery store shelves, to iconic landmarks, to renewable energy development.

Pomegranates have made a real leap to stardom the past few years, mostly in the form of their ruby red juice. But I personally love the seeds, called arils. And recently, I received two of these odd-shaped, aril-filled fruits as a gift—forcing me to think hard about how to use them. I have to say, I was pretty happy with the results.