Researchers at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) have shown that Brachiaria grass species can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cattle and increase productivity -- and breeding improved varieties can potentially augment the environmental and economic benefits. A breakthrough on Brachiaria's complex genome may make breeding much more efficient, and potentially increase the speed with which new grasses begin benefiting cattle farmers and the environment.

Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), in Chile's Atacama Desert, will help to obtain answers on the formation and evolution of these exotic environments, as well as the possibility of life there.

A project conducted by researchers in Brazil and the US investigated bacteria living in symbiosis with insects as a source for novel drugs.

Description of genes involved in sugarcane root cell separation could lead to the development of varieties with softened cell walls similar to those of papaya, boosting the production of second-generation etanol.

Farmers are the first to take the brunt of the climate stress. Quickly obtaining information on the fallout is essential for development agencies, government and farmers organizations to respond efficiently. But poor connectivity and slow flows of information are an obstacle. An app tested with thousands of farmers in Colombia and Africa showed that farmers can quickly produce and share vital information when climate problems arise.

Survey by researchers in 16 countries is published in Science. Authors say chytrid fungus is responsible for heaviest biodiversity loss ever caused by a single pathogen.

Using a combination of crop models and expertise from farmers and others -- and applying them to our current trajectory of high greenhouse gas emissions -- scientists built a tool to assess climate risk vulnerability to help pinpoint communities in need of support for adaptation and mitigation. The study was carried out in Vietnam, Uganda and Nicaragua -- developing countries that embody many of the climate shocks in store for the coming decades, including droughts, floods and high temperatures.