Chang’an, located near Xian in Shaanxi Province, was the capital of several dynasties of ancient China from the Zhou to the Tang and eventually became one of the world’s great metropolises. With tree-lined avenues, high walls, pleasure parks, and areas dedicated to specific functions: Early Settlement & Geography A settlement from Neolithic times, Chang’an was…
The Chinese Armada In 15th century China, while Europe was engulfed in the Black Death, a new regime took charge. One of the first directives from the new Ming Emperor was to use the country’s vast resources to build a vast armada of 317 cutting edge ships, “The Treasure Fleet”, to spearhead a new vision…
3D and 4D Printing In 3D printing, technologies are used to make objects, by adding layers of material in accordance with digital designs, allowing little waste and being more energy & material efficient than technologies that use conventional methods. This ‘additive manufacturing’, as opposed to the expensive and limited ‘subtractive’ business of cutting, drilling and…
DNA-8 A new genetic system with 8 building blocks One of the main characteristics of life is that it can store and pass on genetic info. This is done by DNA using just 4 building blocks: guanine, cytosine, adenine and thymine (G, A, C and T). Pairs of DNA strands form a double helix with…
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Humans and the Cannabis plant share an intimate history spanning millennia. Humans spread Cannabis from its Eurasian homelands throughout much of the world, and, in concert with local climatic and human cultural parameters, created traditional landrace varieties (cultivars resulting from a combination of natural and farmer selection) with few apparent signs of domestication. Cannabis breeders…
CEA Controlled Environment Agriculture Indoor Farming Container Farming Modular Farms Urban Farming Aquaponics, a complete indoor eco-system Hydroponic produce often tastes watery or it tastes off. You often get the abundance of one flavor, like anise, rather than balanced, which is why it has a bad rep with chefs. On the other hand, our chefs…
Fully adopting the digital revolution is the key to long term success in horticulture As margins shrink, super efficient production systems are required to get the optimal results with the technologies applied. But, at some point you have to make a decision on whether to continue to be diversified – with different packing systems and…
HuBi-1, an inside-out stellar corpse The unusual planetary nebula HuBi-1 in the constellation Serpens, was analyzed by researchers at the IAA-CSIC. Planetary nebulae are the descendants of low to intermediate-mass stars, like our Sun. They form at late evolutionary stages, when their progenitor stars expel their envelopes, which are then photo-ionized by the hot white…
What are lectins? Lectins are a type of protein that can bind to cell membranes. They are sugar-binding and become the “glyco” part of glycoconjugates on the membranes. Lectins offer a way for molecules to stick together without getting the immune system involved, which can influence cell-cell interaction. Lectins are abundant in raw legumes and…
The avocado has been part of the human diet for millennia. Nutritionists claim that it contains everything a human needs to survive. The fruit is native to Mexico and can be found in 500+ varieties. 160 liter water is needed to produce 1 kg of avocados (Sp: aguacates: meaning water testicles) Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA an…
The 80/20 rule or Pareto Principle There is a spiritual and scientific law, proven in life, business, and economics, that states that the great majority of results come from a small minority of causes or effort. Known as the “Pareto Principle,” it is also called the “80/20 Principle” because it reflects the fact that ≈80%…
