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Post by johno on Oct 15, 2009 0:16:54 GMT -5
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Post by canadamike on Oct 15, 2009 1:32:07 GMT -5
This is cool, like in really really cool.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 15, 2009 7:09:50 GMT -5
That is a fascinating discovery, yet, somehow, not totally surprising. I have a hunch that our ancient ancestors realized or perhaps "expected" as truth such things. Thereby assuring that for thousands and thousands of years, they and their descendants could flourish and grow. It seems that in more recent centuries, we have given up the old wisdom in favor of modern theory which every day gets proven not just false, but occasionally fatal. I'm thinking of how the medical community blithely eradicated breast feeding here in the States. Not deadly of course, but has indeed given rise to many complications that had previously never seen the light of day. As we learn more and more about the complexities of the interactions of our world, all these things, which we have so spuriously (as humans are won't to be) allowed ourselves to become ignorant of, we are shocked at the "new" discoveries. hmmm maybe this is a post for the soap box section...   |
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Post by ottawagardener on Oct 15, 2009 7:14:16 GMT -5
Nifty and makes sense. Even bacterium chat with each other so I guess this shouldn't come as a huge surprise! Thanks for posting this.
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Post by Alan on Oct 15, 2009 21:01:36 GMT -5
It's so strange sometimes to read all of this "new knowledge" that science gives us......and just stop and go.......no shit!
Like the other day I was listening to NPR and they were talking about grazing/pasturing dairy cattle as opposed to leaving them in confinement and feeding them grain and how the particular state they were talking about got these guys from New Zealand to come in and show the local producers how to run an operation in the "New Zealand" fashion, how it saved them money, the cattle were healthier, blah, blah, blah........
And all I could think was:
Holy shit, what a f'n break through, cows eat grass!
Duhhh!
It doesn't take a genious to figure it out, just a few educated idiots to destroy it during and after the green revolution!
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Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 16, 2009 3:56:04 GMT -5
ROTFL Umm, Alan, I would give a tomato and 6 ears of corn to hear you say "Duhhh!"
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Post by Alan on Oct 16, 2009 7:39:29 GMT -5
LOL.....I don't eat tomatoes, so you'll have to give me something other than tomatoes  I should point out that this particular rant wasn't in response to what Johno actually posted a link to, just all this "astonishing, amazing, breathtaking, new agricultural discovery" being made. |
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Post by johno on Oct 17, 2009 20:33:34 GMT -5
Well Alan, here's another Duhhh moment for you. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090908103623.htmI completely get your point. I read several breaking science news stories every day. At one time I actually couldn't imagine being anything but a scientist (and gardener, of course). But there are lots of 'breakthroughs' that give me exactly the same reaction. Duhhh. The thing is, what they do is quantify common knowledge, and just sometimes, find out it is wrong. |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 17, 2009 21:19:40 GMT -5
Any veg you want Alan, any veg you want ;o)
Science's greatest ability is to prove itself. Sometimes right, sometimes wrong, but always the answer really should have been obvious all along. Science is, in a way, the unvarnished nature of mankind. That's sorta how I see it at least.
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Post by johno on Oct 17, 2009 22:35:00 GMT -5
That's how scientists see it, too, Jo. |
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MikeM
grub
frost-free 365.25 + clayish soil + altitude 210m + latitude 34S + rain 848mm/yr
Posts: 91
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Post by MikeM on Oct 18, 2009 5:32:16 GMT -5
in the article, "when siblings are grown next to each other in the soil, they "play nice" Clearly the researcher had no brothers or sisters of their own as a child. Doesn't match my experience of my own kids, brothers, or any other siblings I've ever met... |
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Post by ottawagardener on Oct 18, 2009 17:51:22 GMT -5
I was reading an article in Scientific America (I'm a science grad btw so this isn't a bash at science per se) about new agricultural technologies and they made a statement suggesting low / no till agriculture was radically new - I got a sense that the spin of this entire rag was how technologies were going to save us from ourselves so 'not to worry... sort of.' Anyhow, my eye rolling turned into a grimace when they added how they accomplish this no/low till process: round-up ready plants. I have read this 'innovation' before but forgot and my gut clenched in the same way on this second reading.
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Post by Alan on Oct 19, 2009 21:09:32 GMT -5
LOL, I agree Ottowa!
The local extensions will hand out information like this all day long!
And then the extension agent will get questions from people asking about self sustainable agriculture and sometimes has to refer to me instead of Purdue university which is funny I think....particularly because of the fact that many of the people that get ahold of the extension office are people who have already contacted me and whom I've already given the advice to, but they don't listen 'cause I wasn't edumacated (sic) at Purdue. If it comes from a guy in kaki pants and a pastel button down shirt with a name tag, they listen though.
RFDTV is almost just as bad with this kind of info as well.
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Post by solarguy on Oct 24, 2009 16:10:28 GMT -5
Science is just a tool.
It can be used well and appropriately, like we are doing here. It can be used badly and inappropriately, to promote the use and necessity of unsustainable ag practices for large financial gain. A large portion of big-ag chose to go down that path, using science badly all the way. That doesn't mean science is bad, or dumb, just that they are asking all the wrong questions.
Hopefully, they haven't damaged the gene pool and the environment so much as to kill off the human species in the next hundred years. Monsanto is very good at the five year plan, but terrible at the 100 year plan.
Maybe they should concentrate on something besides the world food supply to tinker with.
rant off.
troy
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