Word: corns
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...study published in Nature, Cornell entomologist John Losey and his colleagues reported that pollen from corn made pest-resistant by the addition of bacterial genes could spell trouble for monarchs. In his experiments, Losey scattered pollen from the genetically modified corn onto milkweed--the butterfly's only food during its larval or caterpillar stage--and watched what happened with alarm. Most of the caterpillars that ate these leaves either died or were stunted...
...seems be an inevitable law of nature: For every action there is some reaction. The big question is always, how good or bad is the reaction? For some time, the reaction to a genetically engineered type of corn called Bt corn was thought to be very good, since it produced a natural toxin that killed corn borers, and allowed farmers to forgo the use of insecticides. On Thursday, however, a Cornell University laboratory study published in the journal Nature announced some bad news: The corn produces a wind-borne pollen that can kill monarch butterflies if they ingest...
...travel far enough to nearby fields of milkweed, the monarch?s food source, in significantly harmful quantities? Some other questions: Does the pollen travel during the same period that the monarchs feed on the milkweed? How much milkweed is near cornfields as opposed to other areas? And can Bt corn be modified further? Clearly the Cornell study has flashed an amber light, but before it turns to red, says Bjerklie, "more investigation is needed." For the moment, he reports, "most plant and insect ecologists believe this will turn out to be a solvable problem." The findings, though, are yet another...
...other times, Mora becomes too engrossed in writing in a folk tradition and falls into the trap of sentimentality and kitsch. "Corn and trees glow in the sunset, grace manifest May our work enrich the earth. Hear our request/This night and at our death, en paz may we rest," she writes in "Saint Isidore the Farmer." Such passages lose the transcendent quality that should mark them as religious poetry. They are too focused on this earth. More often than not, though, Mora manages to find the right balance between religion and reality, between the glory of the next life...
...outside their homes for weeks. Even today nightmares haunt the boys, according to their friends and relatives, and school days have become a dreaded ritual of taunting, fights and confrontation with youths who tease them about the murder. The younger boy, who once wore his hair in tightly braided corn-rows, cut them off after seeing a sketch of himself on the TV news. "These boys were deliberately framed for this crime," says Pincham. "Sure, it's been acknowledged that they had nothing to do with it, but they are still catching hell...