While everyone has heard of “Locks for Love” how about “Locks for Crops.”  “Locks of Love”, according to its Website, “…is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.” “Locks for Crops” is a non-profit organization that provides hair to financially-strapped farmers who can’t afford the high price of fertilizer. RKP

Agricultural crop production relies on composted waste materials and byproducts, such as animal manure, municipal solid waste composts, and sewage sludge, as a necessary nutrient source. Studies have shown that human hair, a readily available waste generated from barbershops and hair salons, combined with additional compost, is an additional nutrient source for crops. Although human hair has become commercially available to crop producers in the past couple years, it has not been proven to be an exclusive source of nutrients in greenhouse container production.

Vlatcho D. Zheljazkov, Juan L. Silva, Mandar Patel, Jelena Stojanovic, Youkai. Lu, Taejo Kim, and Thomas Horgan of Mississippi State University recently published a research study in HortTechnology designed to determine whether commercially available noncomposted hair waste cubes would support plant growth in horticulture crops as a sole source of nutrients.

The study compared the productivity of four crops: lettuce, wormwood, yellow poppy, and feverfew, grown in commercial growth medium using untreated control, noncomposted hair cubes at differing weights, a controlled-release fertilizer and a water-soluble fertilizer. Results showed that, with the addition of hair waste cubes, yields increased relative to the untreated control but were lower than yields in the inorganic treatments, suggesting that hair waste should not be used as a single source for fast-growing plants such as lettuce.

Zheljazkov suggests that, “once the degradation and mineralization of hair waste starts, it can provide sufficient nutrients to container-grown plants and ensure similar yields to those obtained with the commonly used fertilizers in horticulture. However, it takes time for the hair to start degrading and releasing nutrients, as is reflected in lower yields in the hair treatments relative to the inorganic fertilizers for lettuce and wormwood.”

Because of possible health concerns, further research is necessary to determine whether human hair waste is a viable option as fertilizer for edible crops.

Researchers work hard to find out the most puzzling things. Seem like the brain of a honey bee is no different than a human when it comes to a line of cocaine. RKP

Sure is funky
Sure is funky
I ain’t no junkie
I ain’t no junkie

“No Thing on Me (Cocaine Song)

Curtis Mayfield

A new study challenges current ideas about the insect brain, researchers have found that honey bees on cocaine tend to exaggerate.

Normally, foraging honey bees alert their comrades to potential food sources only when they’ve found high quality nectar or pollen, and only when the hive is in need. They do this by performing a dance, called a “round” or “waggle” dance, on a specialized “dance floor” in the hive. The dance gives specific instructions that help the other bees find the food.

Foraging honey bees on cocaine are more likely to dance, regardless of the quality of the food they’ve found or the status of the hive, the authors of the study report.

The findings, detailed this month in the Journal of Experimental Biology, shed new light on the famous honey bee dance language, said University of Illinois entomology and neuroscience professor Gene Robinson, who led the study. The research also supports the idea that in certain circumstances, honey bees, like humans, are motivated by feelings of reward.

“The honey bee dance is this incredibly complex set of activities,” Robinson said. “It’s a very integrated communication system, very elaborate and very elegant, one of the seven wonders of the animal behavior world.”

(To see a video of the waggle dance, please go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE-8QuBDkkw)

The dance is also an important tool for understanding social behavior in animals – in particular altruism, the “social glue” in all societies, including our own, he said.

Robinson’s interest in the waggle dance led him to study octopamine, a neurochemical known to be important to insect behavior – particularly in regard to movement and eating.

“A variety of solitary insects respond to treatment with octopamine by eating more,” he said. Honey bees don’t eat more when treated with octopamine, but accept a lower quality of food. This fact led Robinson to wonder whether octopamine also influenced the waggle dance, a behavior unique to foraging honey bees. In an earlier study, Robinson found that foragers have higher levels of octopamine in the brain than all other bees in the hive.

In a study published in 2007, Robinson and his colleagues reported that treatment with octopamine caused foraging honey bees to dance more often. This indicated that octopamine played a role in honey bee dance behavior. It also suggested a framework for understanding the evolution of altruistic behavior, Robinson said.

“The idea behind that study was that maybe this mechanism that structures selfish behavior – eating – was co-opted during social evolution to structure social behavior – that is, altruistic behavior,” he said. “So if you’re selfish and you’re jacked up on octopamine, you eat more, but if you’re altruistic you don’t eat more but you tell others about it so they can also eat.”

But it was not even known if insects have a bona fide reward system. That question led the researchers to study the effects of cocaine on honey bee behavior. Cocaine – a chemical used by the coca plant to defend itself from leaf-eating insects – interferes with octopamine transit in insect brains and has undeniable effects on reward systems in mammals, including humans. It does this by influencing the chemically related dopamine system.

Dopamine plays a role in the human ability to predict and respond to pleasure or reward. It is also important to motor function and modulates many other functions, including cognition, sleep, mood, attention and learning.

One aspect of reward in the human brain involves altruistic behavior, Robinson said. Thinking about or performing an altruistic act has been found to excite the pleasure centers of the human brain.

“There are various lines of thought that indicate that one way of structuring society is to have altruistic behavior be pleasurable,” he said.

Because cocaine causes honey bees to dance more – an altruistic behavior – the researchers believe their results support the idea that there is a reward system in the insect brain, something that has never before been shown.

To determine whether the cocaine was merely causing the bees to move more or to dance at inappropriate times or places, the researchers conducted a second set of experiments. These tests showed that non-foraging honey bees don’t dance, even when exposed to cocaine. They showed that foragers on cocaine do not move more than other bees (except when dancing), and that they do not dance at inappropriate times or in locations other than the dance floor.

The researchers also found that the bees on cocaine do not dance every time they go on a foraging excursion. And, most important, their dances are not distorted.

“It’s not like they’re gyrating wildly on the dance floor out of control,” Robinson said. “This is a patterned response. It gives distance information, location information. That information is intact.”

In a final experiment that also shows parallels to human behavior, the researchers found that honey bees on cocaine experience withdrawal symptoms when the drug is withheld.

“This study provides strong support for the idea that bees have a reward system, that it’s been co-opted and it’s now involved in a social behavior, which motivates them to tell their hive mates about the food that they’ve found,” Robinson said.

The findings also indicate that honey bees will make good subjects for substance-abuse research, he said.

challenges current ideas about the insect brain, researchers have found that honey bees on cocaine tend to exaggerate.

Normally, foraging honey bees alert their comrades to potential food sources only when they’ve found high quality nectar or pollen, and only when the hive is in need. They do this by performing a dance, called a “round” or “waggle” dance, on a specialized “dance floor” in the hive. The dance gives specific instructions that help the other bees find the food.

Foraging honey bees on cocaine are more likely to dance, regardless of the quality of the food they’ve found or the status of the hive, the authors of the study report.

The findings, detailed this month in the Journal of Experimental Biology, shed new light on the famous honey bee dance language, said University of Illinois entomology and neuroscience professor Gene Robinson, who led the study. The research also supports the idea that in certain circumstances, honey bees, like humans, are motivated by feelings of reward.

“The honey bee dance is this incredibly complex set of activities,” Robinson said. “It’s a very integrated communication system, very elaborate and very elegant, one of the seven wonders of the animal behavior world.”

(To see a video of the waggle dance, please go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE-8QuBDkkw)

The dance is also an important tool for understanding social behavior in animals – in particular altruism, the “social glue” in all societies, including our own, he said.

Robinson’s interest in the waggle dance led him to study octopamine, a neurochemical known to be important to insect behavior – particularly in regard to movement and eating.

“A variety of solitary insects respond to treatment with octopamine by eating more,” he said. Honey bees don’t eat more when treated with octopamine, but accept a lower quality of food. This fact led Robinson to wonder whether octopamine also influenced the waggle dance, a behavior unique to foraging honey bees. In an earlier study, Robinson found that foragers have higher levels of octopamine in the brain than all other bees in the hive.

In a study published in 2007, Robinson and his colleagues reported that treatment with octopamine caused foraging honey bees to dance more often. This indicated that octopamine played a role in honey bee dance behavior. It also suggested a framework for understanding the evolution of altruistic behavior, Robinson said.

“The idea behind that study was that maybe this mechanism that structures selfish behavior – eating – was co-opted during social evolution to structure social behavior – that is, altruistic behavior,” he said. “So if you’re selfish and you’re jacked up on octopamine, you eat more, but if you’re altruistic you don’t eat more but you tell others about it so they can also eat.”

But it was not even known if insects have a bona fide reward system. That question led the researchers to study the effects of cocaine on honey bee behavior. Cocaine – a chemical used by the coca plant to defend itself from leaf-eating insects – interferes with octopamine transit in insect brains and has undeniable effects on reward systems in mammals, including humans. It does this by influencing the chemically related dopamine system.

Dopamine plays a role in the human ability to predict and respond to pleasure or reward. It is also important to motor function and modulates many other functions, including cognition, sleep, mood, attention and learning.

One aspect of reward in the human brain involves altruistic behavior, Robinson said. Thinking about or performing an altruistic act has been found to excite the pleasure centers of the human brain.

“There are various lines of thought that indicate that one way of structuring society is to have altruistic behavior be pleasurable,” he said.

Because cocaine causes honey bees to dance more – an altruistic behavior – the researchers believe their results support the idea that there is a reward system in the insect brain, something that has never before been shown.

To determine whether the cocaine was merely causing the bees to move more or to dance at inappropriate times or places, the researchers conducted a second set of experiments. These tests showed that non-foraging honey bees don’t dance, even when exposed to cocaine. They showed that foragers on cocaine do not move more than other bees (except when dancing), and that they do not dance at inappropriate times or in locations other than the dance floor.

The researchers also found that the bees on cocaine do not dance every time they go on a foraging excursion. And, most important, their dances are not distorted.

“It’s not like they’re gyrating wildly on the dance floor out of control,” Robinson said. “This is a patterned response. It gives distance information, location information. That information is intact.”

In a final experiment that also shows parallels to human behavior, the researchers found that honey bees on cocaine experience withdrawal symptoms when the drug is withheld.

“This study provides strong support for the idea that bees have a reward system, that it’s been co-opted and it’s now involved in a social behavior, which motivates them to tell their hive mates about the food that they’ve found,” Robinson said.

The findings also indicate that honey bees will make good subjects for substance-abuse research, he said.

There’s coffee, flavored coffee, organic coffee, fair trade coffee and now shade grown coffee. To some, coffee is coffee is coffee. But with the right frame of mind, “eco-friendly” taste better, better for you and better for the world. RKP

A new study published in the December 23rd issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, reveals another “eco-friendly” reason to select shade-grown coffee over beans that were grown in the sun: Shade coffee farms not only harbor a diverse array of birds and bats, but they also help to maintain the genetic diversity of native tree species.

“Shade coffee farms allow birds and bats to move and disperse seeds throughout the coffee landscape, promoting plant gene flow,” said Shalene Jha of the University of Michigan. “This is unlike most agricultural systems, which do not provide habitat for seed dispersers, and thus limit the distance plant seeds can move. By supporting important seed dispersal processes, shade coffee farms maintain plant population gene flow across fragmented habitats.”

Gene flow refers to the transfer of genes from one population to another by interbreeding. The maintenance of gene flow is an important conservation measure since fragmented populations are effectively smaller and therefore more susceptible to inbreeding and further declines or extinction.

Coffee is grown across millions of hectares of land within the world’s richest centers of biodiversity, the researchers said. In tropical America, that coffee is traditionally grown under a diverse canopy of shade trees, which supports a broad spectrum of pollinators that increases coffee yield. Unlike sun coffee grown in monoculture, shade coffee also provides habitat to a wide array of other animals, including bats and migratory birds that aid farmers by picking off insects. Earlier studies had suggested that birds and other animals within shade coffee farms might have additional ecological benefits.

Now, the researchers have confirmed that notion through genetic analyses revealing recent colonization and extensive gene flow of native understory tree species in shade coffee farms of Chiapas, Mexico. The findings show that traditional coffee farms can maintain genetic connectivity with adjacent forest and serve as a focal point for forest regeneration.

Jha said they hope the discovery calls attention to the value of maintaining biodiverse agricultural systems more generally.

“More than 60% of the earth’s surface is managed by humans as agriculture or pasture, and these landscapes provide us with a great opportunity to support native biodiversity,” Jha said. “Many studies have shown that conserving native biodiversity in agricultural systems can actually benefit crops—by preventing pest outbreaks and providing native pollinator services. Our study shows that agricultural crops can also benefit native trees living across the landscape.”

Buying shade-grown coffee is one way to support the conservation of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes at a global scale, she said. At the local level, Jha added, consumers can also support local farming practices that conserve native biodiversity, such as pesticide-free farming, polyculture farms, and urban gardening.

University of Florida researchers have found a way to use Christmas lights to grow better crops.

According to researchers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are now common replacements for incandescent bulbs in applications ranging from coffeemakers to holiday string lights. They stay cool to the touch, don’t burn out as easily and use up to 90 percent less energy.

However, LEDs can also be designed to emit very specific frequencies of light, and researchers are using those exacting frequencies to promote plant growth.

“Everyone knows about greenhouses or home growers that use these special fluorescent white lights or filtered light to help plants grow,” said Kevin Folta, a horticulture researcher at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “Light is the language plants listen to when deciding how to grow, and broad spectrum light is a noisy combination of different languages. We’re learning how to speak these various ways to make the plant do what we want it to do, when we want them to do it.”

In a paper published in a special December issue of the journal HortScience, Folta and undergraduate researcher Kayla Shea Childers report on progress made using combinations of LEDs to direct plant growth.

All plants have a unique combination of photoreceptors, pigments used to specific frequencies of light. These pigments trigger different behaviors in the plant, such as leaf growth, flowering, rooting or even speeding up and slowing down stem and shoot growth. As a demonstration of the technology, they report using specific light frequencies to restrict flowering in the early life of strawberry plants — causing the plants to divert their resources to growing more runners and leaves.

If such techniques were employed by growers, the result could be stronger plants that produce more fruit. Farmers may even want to employ colored mulches and reflective panels to supplement the effect.

“We still have a lot to learn before we can start using these techniques on a large scale, but it is certainly looking more and more attractive of a possibility,” Folta said. “Overall consumer demand for LEDs is beginning to make the technology really inexpensive, so it’s not inconceivable to picture acres of crops spurred on by LEDs.”

Similar studies are taking place around the planet on crops such as rice, peas, tomatoes and maize. However, one of the most prominent uses of the technology could someday be off-planet.

Future astronauts could use the same technology used to light Christmas trees to grow their own trees and plants in space.

“As we start to explore space for longer periods of time, we’re not going to be able to just take food with us, we’ll have to grow it,” Folta said. “Humans can do well with anything that lets us see, but crops have evolved to specifically need the kind of light that they get on Earth, and not — oh, say — Mars. We’ll have to give it to them to ensure that desirable plant products are there when we need them.”