Swetnam says recent decades have been the hottest in 1,000 years, with a dramatic increase in fires high in the mountains, where fires were rare in the past. In the past five days, parts of southern California have become out-of-control, raging infernos as another hot dry summer turns dehydrated forests into combustible tinderboxes. Swetnam contends that climate change global warming has increased temperatures in the West about one degree and that has caused four times more fires. Such...

My question is, is the oil better for you than the butter? I'm not sure if canola oil is healthy or not, and if it is "worse" for you than butter? I am trying out a recipe for sweet potato cookies and everything in the recipe seems healthy except for the butter, and I would like to tweak it a little so that it matches my dietary requirements. My question is, is the oil better for you than the butter? I'm not sure if canola oil is healthy or not, and if it is "worse" for you than butter? I...

Previously it was believed that wandering albatrosses and other species forage using a Lvy flight strategy - a cluster of short moves connected by infrequent longer ones. The first attempt to demonstrate their existence in a natural biological system suggested that wandering albatrosses perform Lvy flights when searching for prey on the ocean surface - a finding followed by similar inferences about the search strategies of deer and bumblebees. Published this week in the journal Nature, the...

Warm and dry weather in May and June produced yields that varied across the state but were generally lower than the previous year. Information on the adaptation and performance of hybrids and varieties is offered for alfalfa, barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat. The statewide average yield was 121 bushels per acre with test weights averaging 34. The program offers unbiased, third-party information to Iowa growers on commercial seed they can purchase. Average yields were 63 bushels per...

The FFA is a national youth organization of nearly half a million students, who are preparing for leadership careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture in more than 7,000 local chapters in all 50 states. That s a lot of competition, which make Tonnessen s national finalist placement he was one of only four finalists in the entire nation in the agricultural processing-entrepreneurship/placement proficiency award program all the more impressive. His honey includes both...