UC research snippets in the news

Here are three recent news tidbits on UC ANR research and extension in California.

Bees do the math
Newscientist.com reported that UC Riverside scientists believe honey bees make complex math calculations about flight paths to point hivemates towards nectar-rich flowers. "I find it remarkable that, with a relatively simple brain, they can do something so mathematically complex," David Tanner was quoted. Tanner and Kirk Visscher discovered that rather than picking a flight path based on the angle of any one waggle, the bees flew off in a direction that more closely matched the mean angle of several waggles.

Protein in rice may control leaf blight in Asian rice
Capitol Press reported that UC Davis geneticist Pamela Ronald identified a protein in rice that could help control the spread of leaf blight across Asia. Rice plants have different kinds of stresses, Ronald told the reporter. "There are environmental stresses like flooding, drought, salt, and there are other types of stresses like bacterial infections. XA21 applies to those stresses," she was quoted. When the XA21 protein and another protein are altered, they could enhance resistance to bacterial leaf blight.

"Underground" farmers get sound advice
The World Watch Institute Web site  turned to UC Davis poultry specialist Francine Bradley for insight on city dwellers raising chickens. The story says an underground "urban chicken" movement has swept across the United States in recent years. While not commenting on the legality of backyard chicken and egg production, Bradley does provide helpful advice for keeping the food safe. "Make sure the roof of the pen has a solid cover to protect birds from fecal matter that may drop from birds flying overhead," the story said, pulling a quote from (and attributing) a 2005 UC ANR news release. "We always tell people, don't let anyone near your birds who doesn't need to be there [due to fears of people carrying the virus]."

Read more