Drought and effective fertilizer

With the aim of developing effective fertilizers which can be applied even in drought conditions.

A team of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas have deciphered the structure of the receptor of a hormone that can increase the resistance of crop plants to drought. This was announced by the researcher CSIC, Pedro Rodriguez Egea, who has stated that

"the discovery would help develop more effective plant protection products with synthetic molecule that mimics the effect of the hormone abscisic acid (ABA)".

Researchers have managed to elucidate the three dimensional structure (atomic level) of one receptor, called PYR1 of the ABA. This hormone is essential for plants to tackle the drought, and researchers have succeeded in describing how the receptor interacts with the phytohormone PYR1 to trigger the plant response to water stress. The result, which is published in the online version of the revista'Nature ', encourage the development of synthetic molecules that mimics the effect of ABA, overcoming the limitations of using this phytohormone in agriculture, since it is sensitive to light and their chemical synthesis is expensive. This work lays the groundwork for identifying these molecules in the field of drought resistance.

Negating the negative - wind power

GUSTAVO CATALÁN DEUS writes in El Mundo

MADRID .- A team of researchers at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Foundation Migros finalizing a device capable of detecting the presence of birds and their trajectory, in order to stop the blades of wind turbines to prevent their death.The device in question, which has a television camera, promises to put an end to the carnage of wind farms around the world, which in some cases has emerged as the most negative impact of wind turbines, tireless producers of renewable energy .

Olive and Hypertension

The leaves of the olive tree have been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times, and modern lab research suggests that olive leaf extracts have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions. There is also evidence that the extracts have properties that could lower blood pressure.

The current study, published in the journal Phytotherapy Research, included 20 sets of identical twins with "borderline" hypertension -- blood pressure that is above the optimal level of 120/80, but below the cutoff of 140/90 used to diagnose high blood pressure.