Results tagged “rice”

This news seems especially timely now that we've been subject to a host of summer flash floods - scientists in Japan have discovered a "snorkel" gene that could make rice more tolerant to extreme water conditions. The gene triggers hollow tubes to grow swiftly from parts of the rice plant called internodes, which then allow it to literally keep its head above water. When floods arive, it can grow up to 25cm per day. Considering up to 40% of crops in Asia and Africa are subject to flash floods or deep water, this could significantly boost yields. The scientists at Nagoya University are currently introducing these "snorkel" genes to high-yield rice. The BBC also has a creepy cool video showing how quickly the rice grows. Check it out.

Chinese volunteers have organised a charity event and donated over 100 tonnes of rice to Sarah Obama, the relatively poor step-grandmother of US President Barack Obama who "only recently got electricity in her metal-roofed shack" in Kenya. The rice was for her 82 adopted orphans aged between four and 18 most of whose parents have died from AIDS, as well as other impoverished, starving Kenyans. Said Julius Ole Sunkuli, Kenya's ambassador to China, "She will be very happy to see the support from China after she returns from Obama's inauguration."

Well it was in 1967, anyway. Courtesy of Popsucker, here's a 41-year-old ad from the Rice Council of America that's about as un-PC as you can get.

We know that this sounds like an April fool, but China could be facing a rice shortage. No, seriously. We told you a few days ago about KFC upping their prices; now the cost of the other staple in Shanghaiist's diet, rice, could be facing a hike due to fears over supply. For the moment, the government has frozen the price of rice — as well as that of other goods such as cooking oil — in an effort to curb food costs following their 23% leap in February, but has not ruled out price rises in the near future. They have also announced that farmers will receive increased prices for both rice and wheat as China attempts to avoid the rice production problems currently engulfing some other Asian states.

``The Chinese side is willing to keep contact with the U.S. in all areas,'' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said today at the end of a Beijing press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, neither elaborating nor giving her the chance to respond. ``We're ready to resume the dialogue.''

Now we know that America's own record when it comes to human rights has been called into question on numerous occasions in recent years, but the willingness on the side of the PRC to reevaluate its policy with other international bodies can't be such a bad thing. Such talks had been declared officially off-limits since 2003. Whether this indicates an actual shift in policy or just pre-Olympic posturing remains yet to be seen, but until we have evidence to the contrary we will remain cautiously optimistic.

• Gothamist went to the scene of the Trump Soho construction collapse, which left one construction worker dead and others injured (an indirect culprit - Manhattan's hot real estate market, causing rushed construction jobs).
• Shanghaiist is confused by media reports as to whether Playboy will be available in China during the year of the Olympics.
• LAist got fugged in an interview with the Go Fug Yourself girls.

Or more like who won't be performing. We've already told you about Live Earth, Al Gore's 24-hour, 7-continent series of concerts on 7/7/07. Well, lists of performers at different venues (cities participating are: East Rutherford, New Jersey [near New York]; London; Rio de Janeiro; Maropeng [near Johannesburg]; Tokyo; Shanghai; and Sydney) are starting to be announced. First up, the US and the UK.

An organization called the International Wine Culture Promotion Association -- which apparently has had 578 visits to its website -- really wants China to take up wine drinking, so much so that they are "donating" 100,000 wine cellars to middle class China. In alcoholism parlance, they would be known as an enabler. From Xinhua:

For many Americans (and American sympathizers), August is a month for back to school shopping and spending the last weeks of summer vacation with your family preparing for your fantasy football draft. We forgot to do that, and our draft drafted over the weekend, so we were scouring the waiver wire today. One name jumped out at us:

Talks of population growth and sustainability inevitably lead to one fundamental question: Can we house and feed the world's growing population? One look at the ticker in the upper-right hand corner of the International Rice Research Institute's home page paints a dismal picture indeed.

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