Philly to Get First-ever Passive Solar Greenhouse
Philadelphia will soon be getting its very first passive solar greenhouse
thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Whole Cities Foundation. Led
by the non-profit Urbanstead, a community farming and youth
education organization, the project will produce a sustainable
greenhouse that requires no energy source other than the sun
to function. The Whole Cities Foundation, run by Whole Foods Market,
provided the funding through its Community First Grant Program. This year’s
grantees include community gardens, urban farms, mobile markets, and pop-up
produce stands. For Urbanstead, the project will directly translate into increased food
access for Philadelphia. “This will allow us to extend our growing season all year round, which is
very exciting,” says Urbanstead spokesperson Yoni Kroll. “While we occupy only a small part of the
overall urban farming community in Philadelphia, we hope this will be an inspiration for other groups.”
– phillyvoice.com
MAXFACTS
GROWING TIPS, NEWS, AND TRIVIA
Spinach Bomb Squad
By embedding leaves with carbon nanotubes, MIT engineers have transformed
spinach plants into sensors that can detect explosives and wirelessly relay
that information to a handheld device similar to a smartphone. “The goal
of plant nanobionics is to introduce nanoparticles into the plant to give it
non-native functions,” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs professor
of chemical engineering at MIT and the leader of the research team. In this
case, the plants were designed to detect chemical compounds known as
nitroaromatics, which are often used in landmines and other explosives.
When one of these chemicals is present in the groundwater sampled
naturally by the plant, carbon nanotubes embedded in the plant leaves emit a
fluorescent signal that can be read with an infrared camera attached to a small
computer. “This is a novel demonstration of how we have overcome the plant/
human communication barrier,” says Strano, who believes plant power could also
be harnessed to warn of pollutants and environmental conditions such as drought.
– news.mit.edu
Mangos May Help Modulate High-fat Diet
Research published in the Journal of Nutrition has for the first time documented the potential effects
of mango consumption on gut microbiota of mice. When samples were compared from the
beginning to the end of the study period, mango supplementation was found to prevent
the loss of beneficial gut bacteria often induced by a high-fat diet. This is an important
finding as specific bacteria in the intestinal tract may play a role in obesity and obesityrelated complications, such as Type 2 diabetes. In this study, published in the Journal
of Nutrition, 60 male mice were assigned to one of four dietary treatment
groups for 12 weeks—control (with 10 per cent of calories
from fat), high fat (with 60 per cent calories from
fat), or high fat with one per cent or
10 per cent mango. All high-fat diets
had similar macronutrient, calcium,
phosphorus, and fiber content.
– freshplaza.com
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Maximum Yield USA | January 2017