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George Beadle crossed an Argentine popcorn varietal with teosinte (left) and selected the smallest progeny to create a ‘reconstructed’ ear of ancient maize(right). Beadle, a winner of the Nobel Prize in 1958 for his work uncovering the expression of genes as enzymes, had posed the “teosinte hypothesis” in his youth, and spent his retirement on an elaborate crossbreeding project to persuade skeptics that maize was domesticated from teosinte, producing evidence of selection on as few as four or five major genes. Genetic sequencing of Zea mays has confirmed his hypothesis. Credit, John Doebley.
Popcorn origins glimpsed in the ruins of antiquity and the greenhouse time machine
Before there was corn (Zea mays subsp. mays), and corn ruled the world, there was Read more
ESA Policy News, February 28, 2014: Supreme Court hears EPA challenge, POTUS links CA drought to climate change
WHITE HOUSE: OBAMA PROPOSES CLIMATE FUND AMONG ACTIONS TO ADDRESS DROUGHT On Feb. 14, President Read more
Mary Agnes Chase (1869 - 1963) photographed on Pico das Agulhas Negras (9,157 ft) during field work in Brazil in 1924 or 1925. Chase surmounted a limited formal education and institutional barriers to become the foremost expert on grasses of the early twentieth century, publishing over 70 papers and conducting extensive field work in the Americas. She also risked arrest, and the ire of her employers at the USDA, to demonstrate for women's suffrage and self determination. Smithsonian Institution Archives SIA RU000229, Box 20, Folder 1; Field Book Project.
Ill-informed prophecies and the future of women in ecology
In May 2013, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment published a controversial article on "The Read more
ESA Policy News, February 14, 2014: Keystone Pipeline, fisheries reauthorization debate, and FWS criticized in wolf delisting.
Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston.  Read more
IPBES Science and Policy for People and Nature
Ecologists wanted for the international panel on biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES)
Would you like to be a member of a platform to improve the role of Read more
National Science Board report highlights need for continued science investment
Southeast Asia’s R&D performance shoots up through the aughts, eclipsing US A Feb. 11 Capitol Read more