Organic News

June 25, 2025

Top Headlines

83% of Earth’s Climate-Critical Fungi Are Still Unknown

June 15, 2025 — Underground fungi may be one of Earth s most powerful and overlooked allies in the fight against climate change, yet most of them remain unknown to science. Known only by DNA, these "dark taxa" make up a shocking 83% of ectomycorrhizal species fungi ...

Nitrogen Loss on Sandy Shores: The Big Impact of Tiny Anoxic Pockets

June 2, 2025 — Some microbes living on sand grains use up all the oxygen around them. Their neighbors, left without oxygen, make the best of it: They use nitrate in the surrounding water for denitrification -- a process hardly possible when oxygen is present. This ...

The EU Should Allow Gene Editing to Make Organic Farming More Sustainable, Researchers Say

May 30, 2025 — To achieve the European Green Deal's goal of 25% organic agriculture by 2030, researchers argue that new genomic techniques (NGTs) should be allowed without pre-market authorization in organic as ...

Rock Record Illuminates Oxygen History

May 29, 2025 — A new study reveals that the aerobic nitrogen cycle in the ocean may have occurred about 100 million years before oxygen began to significantly accumulate in the atmosphere, based on nitrogen isotope analysis from ancient South African rock cores. ...

Stirling Research Could Extend Biopesticide Effectiveness

May 27, 2025 — Alterations to the diet of pests could impact how quickly they can adapt to ...

The Dietary Bug in a Cancer Therapy

May 22, 2025 — A study has uncovered a surprising link between diet, intestinal microbes and the efficacy of cancer ...

Cover Crops May Not Be Solution for Both Crop Yield, Carbon Sequestration

May 20, 2025 — People have assumed climate change solutions that sequester carbon from the air into soils will also benefit crop yields. But a new study finds that most regenerative farming practices to build soil organic carbon -- such as planting cover crops, ...

Dual Associations With Two Fungi Improve Tree Fitness

May 16, 2025 — When trees and soil fungi form close associations with each other, both partners benefit. Many tree species have further enhanced this cooperation by forming a concurrent symbiosis with two different groups of mycorrhizal fungi. Those trees cope ...

Artificial Intelligence and Genetics Can Help Farmers Grow Corn With Less Fertilizer

May 15, 2025 — Scientists are using artificial intelligence to determine which genes collectively govern nitrogen use efficiency in plants such as corn, with the goal of helping farmers improve their crop yields ...

Microbial 'Phosphorus Gatekeeping' Found at Center of Study Exploring 700,000 Years of Iconic Coastline

May 13, 2025 — A team of researchers investigated a sequence of coastal dunes of different ages (from 0-700,000 years old) in Cooloola National Park near Rainbow Beach to understand how soil microorganisms coped ...

Food as Medicine: How Diet Shapes Gut Microbiome Health

May 7, 2025 — Researchers show how mice fed a Western-style diet are not able to rebuild a 'healthy,' diverse gut microbiome following antibiotic treatment. These mice were also more susceptible to infection by pathogens like Salmonella. However, mice given food ...

Feat of 'Dung-Gineering' Turns Cow Manure Into One of World's Most Used Materials

May 7, 2025 — A new technique to extract tiny cellulose strands from cow dung and turn them into manufacturing-grade cellulose, currently used to make everything from surgical masks to food packaging, has been ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:54pm EDT

Replanted Rainforests May Benefit from Termite Transplants

May 6, 2025 — Termites -- infamous for their ability to destroy wood -- are rarely welcomed into rainforests that have been painstakingly replanted. But a new paper suggests that termite transplants may be ...

Vertical Farming to Increase Yields and Reduce Environmental Impact

May 6, 2025 — Vertical farming can do more than lettuce. A research team has investigated the cultivation of six food groups in vertical farming: Crops, algae, mushrooms, insects, fish and cultivated meat. In this ...

Are Agricultural Pesticides an Environmental Threat?

May 5, 2025 — A study has demonstrated that pesticides can negatively affect non-target species living in agricultural environment. However, the effects varied greatly depending on the substance ...

Less Intensive Farming Works Best for Agricultural Soil

Apr. 26, 2025 — The less intensively you manage the soil, the better the soil can function. Such as not plowing as often or using more grass-clover mixtures as cover crops. Surprisingly, it applies to both ...

Hotter Temps Trigger Wetlands to Emit More Methane as Microbes Struggle to Keep Up

Apr. 23, 2025 — In the soils of Earth's wetlands, microbes are in a tug-of-war to produce and consume the powerful greenhouse gas methane. But if the Earth gets too ...

Even Sublethal Insecticide Dose May Disrupt Pollinator Mating Process

Apr. 21, 2025 — Insecticides can help protect crops against troublesome pests, but they also pose a risk for beneficial insects such as pollinators. A new study provided insight into how even sublethal doses of ...

Nutrients Strengthen Link Between Precipitation and Plant Growth, Study Finds

Apr. 18, 2025 — A new study has investigated how the relationship between mean annual precipitation (MAP) and grassland biomass changes when one or more nutrients ...

Missing Nitrogen: A Dramatic Game of Cosmic Hide-and-Seek Deep Within Our Planet

Apr. 16, 2025 — Earth's rocky layers are mysteriously low in nitrogen compared with carbon and argon. A scientific team explored our planet's molten youth using ...

New Plant Molecule Encourages Plant-Fungi Symbiosis to Improve Crops

Apr. 14, 2025 — Scientists use small peptides to enhance symbiosis between plants and fungi, offering a sustainable alternative to artificial fertilizers. Plant biologists discover new plant molecule, CLE16, as well ...

Scientists Discover Microbes in Earth's Deep Soil

Apr. 13, 2025 — Scientists have discovered a new phylum of microbes in the Earth's Critical Zone, an area of deep soil that restores water quality. Ground water, which becomes drinking water, passes through where ...

160 Million Years Ago, This Fungus Pierced Trees Like a Microscopic Spear

June 8, 2025 — In a paper published in National Science Review, a Chinese team of scientists highlights the discovery of well-preserved blue-stain fungal hyphae within a Jurassic fossil wood from northeastern ...

Lactic Acid Bacteria Can Improve Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives

Apr. 8, 2025 — A new study maps how specific lactic acid bacteria can enhance both the flavor and nutritional quality of plant-based dairy alternatives. The findings may have wide-reaching perspectives for the ...

New Vaccine Concept Tackles Harmful Bacteria in the Intestine

Apr. 3, 2025 — In the fight against bacterial pathogens, researchers are combining vaccination with targeted colonization of the intestine by harmless microorganisms. This approach could potentially mark a turning ...

Migrating Flies Vital for People and Nature

Apr. 2, 2025 — Buzzing insects may be seen as pests -- but globally, hundreds of fly species migrate over long distances, with major benefits for people and nature, new research ...

Surprising Number of Environmental Pollutants in Hedgehogs

Apr. 1, 2025 — Lead, pesticides, brominated flame retardants, plastic additives, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and heavy metals. This is what researchers found when they collected dead hedgehogs to investigate ...

Human Urine, a Valuable Resource as Fertilizer for Sustainable Urban Agriculture, Study Concludes

Mar. 27, 2025 — The reuse of human urine would allow for the production of sustainable fertilizers for urban agriculture, with significant environmental benefits, a new study concludes. The research evaluates the ...

Antibiotic Exposure in Infancy May Boost Type 1 Diabetes Risk

Mar. 25, 2025 — Exposure to antibiotics during a key developmental window in infancy can stunt growth of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and may boost risk of diabetes later in life, new research in mice ...

Using Cover Plants to Remove Pollutants from Arable Soil

Mar. 25, 2025 — Nitrate, pesticides, metals, plastic -- agricultural soils often contain pollutants. But are there sustainable and climate-friendly ways to restore and promote soil health in agricultural land? Yes, ...

Technology Makes Pesticides Stick to Plant Leaves

Mar. 25, 2025 — Technology makes pesticides stick to plant leaves. With the system, farmers could significantly cut their use of pesticides and fertilizers, saving money and reducing ...

Mar. 18, 2025 — A significant amount of the milk used in a popular cooking cheese can be substituted with plants, all while maintaining its taste and texture. Researchers have demonstrated this by creating a hybrid ...

Researchers Demonstrate New Technique for Boosting Plant Growth With Bacteria

Mar. 17, 2025 — Researchers have demonstrated a technique for successfully encapsulating bacteria that can then be stored and applied to plants to improve plant growth and protect against pests and pathogens. The ...

Discovery: The Great Whale Pee Funnel Moves Vital Nutrients

Mar. 10, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that whales move nutrients thousands of miles -- in their urine -- from as far as Alaska to Hawaii. These tons of nitrogen support the health of tropical ecosystems and ...

The Unforseen Effects of Melting Glaciers on Arctic Coastal Ecosystems

Mar. 7, 2025 — Researchers found that climate change induced glacial melt increases the heavy metal content and changes the microbiome of habitat-forming brown algae in Arctic fjords. As algae are at the basis of ...

Bad Bitterness Made Better for Everyone: Global Taste Differences in the Flavor of Medicines

Mar. 4, 2025 — Scientists examined the bitterness intensity of five medicines and two bitter modifiers in 338 adults of European descent and recent US and Canadian immigrants from Asia, South Asia, and Africa. ...

Ideal Nitrogen Fertilizer Rates in Corn Belt Have Been Climbing for Decades

Mar. 3, 2025 — The amount of nitrogen fertilizer needed to maximize the profitability of corn production in the Midwest has been increasing by about 1.2% per year for the past three decades, a trend driven by ...

New Device Could Allow You to Taste a Cake in Virtual Reality

Feb. 28, 2025 — Novel technology intends to redefine the virtual reality experience by expanding to incorporate a new sensory connection: ...

The International Space Station Is Overly Sterile; Making It 'Dirtier' Could Improve Astronaut Health

Feb. 27, 2025 — Astronauts often experience immune dysfunction, skin rashes, and other inflammatory conditions while traveling in space. A new study suggests that these issues could be due to the excessively sterile ...

Research Provides New Detail on the Impact of Volcanic Activity on Early Marine Life

Feb. 24, 2025 — New analysis of ancient fossilized rocks known as stromatolites, preserved in southern Zimbabwe, suggests strong links to hydrothermal nutrient recycling, 'meaning that early life may in part ...

Resilient Algae May Speed Up Greenland Ice Melt

Feb. 19, 2025 — New research reveals that ice algae can store nutrients which may enable them to colonize more of the ice sheet, darkening and melting ...

Parasitic Orchids Are Healthier

Feb. 19, 2025 — Why have some orchids stopped photosynthesis and become parasites feeding on fungi? Researchers found that in at least one species the transition may be driven by the opportunity -- more than by the ...