Feature Article

Both resistance and tolerance, which are two strategies that plants use to limit biotic stress, are affected by the abiotic environment including atmospheric CO2 levels. We tested the hypothesis that elevated CO2 would reduce resistance (i.e., the ability to prevent damage) but enhance tolerance (i.e., the ability to regrow and compensate for damage after the damage has occurred) of tomato plants to the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera.

The widespread use of Bt crops reduces the outbreaks of certain targeted pests and the need for insecticide use, leading to enhanced biocontrol of other potential pest species in the Bt crops; neighbouring non-Bt crops may also benefit.

Fertilization of the ocean by adding iron compounds has induced diatom-dominated phytoplankton blooms accompanied by considerable carbon dioxide drawdown in the ocean surface layer. However, because the fate of bloom biomass could not be adequately resolved in these experiments, the timescales of carbon sequestration from the atmosphere are uncertain.

The discovery that marine algal blooms deposit organic carbon to the deep ocean answers some — but not all — of the questions about whether fertilizing such blooms is a viable strategy for mitigating climate change.

Humans evolved to run. This helps to explain our athletic capacity and our susceptibility to modern diseases, argue Timothy Noakes and Michael Spedding.

Enhancements such as doping are illegal in sport — but if all restrictions were lifted, science could push human performance to new extremes.

Even in death, Lonesome George’s star power burns brightly. After the iconic giant tortoise died last month, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa mourned the reptile’s loss in an address to the nation, expressing hope that “one day, science and technology will be able to reproduce him, to clone him”.