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“O, wonder!/How many goodly creatures are there here!/How beauteous mankind is!/O brave new world,/That has such people in't!” Shakespeare’s lines in The Tempest famously inspired Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, first published in 1932. Huxley’s vision of the future has become a byword for the idea that attempts at genetic (and social) engineering are bound to go wrong. With its crude partitioning of society, by stunting human development before birth, and with its use of a drug – soma – to induce a false sense of happiness and suppress dissent, this was the opposite of a ‘beauteous’ world.

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Fine wine is an agricultural product with characteristics that make it especially sensitive to a changing climate. The quality and quantity of wine, and thus prices and revenues, are extremely sensitive to the weather where the grapes were grown. Depending on weather conditions, the prices for wines produced by the same winemaker from fruit grown on the same plot of land can vary by a factor of 20 or more from year to year.

The post Does climate change spell the end of fine wine? appeared first on OUPblog.

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What do Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Brazil, and India have in common? They have banned the use of Roundup—the most heavily applied herbicide in the United States. Why have these nations acted against what is the most heavily used herbicide in the world today? This is because of growing reports of serious illness to farmworkers and their families.

The post Potential dangers of glyphosate weed killers appeared first on OUPblog.

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The eradication of infectious diseases in the 20th century is arguably one of the most important achievements in modern medicine. The treatment of such illnesses as tuberculosis, leprosy, syphilis, cholera, pertussis, or diphtheria with antibiotics have reduced suffering, increased hygiene, enormously improved lifestyle, and skyrocketed life expectancy around the globe – particularly in developed countries.

The post Towards a global approach to combat antibiotic resistance appeared first on OUPblog.

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The soils surrounding the village where I live in the north west of England have abundant fertility. They mostly formed in well-drained, clay-rich debris left behind by glaciers that retreated from the area some ten thousand years ago, and they now support lush, productive pasture, semi-natural grassland and woodland. Although the pastures are managed more intensively than they were in the past, most of them are well drained, and receive regular dressings of manure along with moderate fertiliser, and are regularly limed, which keeps the land productive and the soil in good health.

The post Why soil matters more than we realise appeared first on OUPblog.

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Do mountains matter? Today, 11 December, is International Mountain Day, celebrated worldwide since 2003. The fact that the UN General Assembly has designated such a day would suggest a simple answer. Yes – and particularly for the 915 million people who live in the mountain areas that cover 22 percent of the land area of our planet.

The post Do mountains matter? appeared first on OUPblog.

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What is all around us, terrifies a lot of people, but adds enormously to the quality of life? Answer: chemistry. Almost everything that happens in the world, in transport, throughout agriculture and industry, to the flexing of a muscle and the framing of a thought involves chemical reactions in which one substance changes into another.

The post The case for chemistry appeared first on OUPblog.

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Research for the developing world is the application of science to the challenges facing poor people and places. In the 20th century, such research fell into two camps.

The post Research for the developing world: Moving from development studies toward global science appeared first on OUPblog.

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Where does our food come from? A popular slogan tells us that our food comes from farms: “If you ate today, thank a farmer.” Supermarkets cater to the same idea, labelling every bag of produce with the name of an individual farm.

The post Food and agriculture: shifting landscapes for policy appeared first on OUPblog.

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t the conclusion of the mid-September meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve announced its decision to leave its target interest rate unchanged through the end of this month. Although some pundits had predicted that the Fed might use the occasion of August’s decline in the unemployment rate (to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent in July), to begin its long-awaited monetary policy tightening, those forecasts left out one crucial fact.

The post Don’t panic: it’s October appeared first on OUPblog.

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Migrant farmworkers plant and pick most of the fruits and vegetables that you eat. Seasonal crop farmers, who employ workers only a few weeks of the year, rely on workers who migrate from one job to another. However, farmers’ ability to rely on migrants to fill their seasonal labor needs is in danger. From 1989 through 1988, roughly half of all seasonal crop farmworkers migrated: traveled at least 75 miles for a U.S. job. Since then, the share of workers who migrate has dropped by more than in half, hitting 18% in 2012.

The post Are migrant farm workers disappearing? appeared first on OUPblog.

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The world is more interested in issues surrounding agriculture and food than ever before. Questions swirl around the safety of our food, how it’s made, and what we can do to ensure we eat the best food. We asked F. Bailey Norwood, one of the authors of Agricultural and Food Controversies: What Everyone Needs to Know, to answer some of today’s most pressing queries.

Why has agriculture become so controversial?

There are many reasons, but a major one is the fact that agriculture today involves both big corporations and big government. Individuals with left-leaning political beliefs are hostile towards big corporations, whereas those on the right feel the same way about big government. This creates political tension that is not easy to resolve. Big corporations exist because there are economies-of-scale in agriculture, and there are extensive government regulations due to the many ways agriculture affects human health and the environment. Rather than lament the politicization of food, perhaps we should view it as a sign of a healthy democracy.

How do regulators know whether the pesticides we apply are safe?

The same way kings and popes would make sure their food wasn’t poisoned: they had official tasters who ate the food first. Our tasters are laboratory animals, who are exposed to varying amounts of pesticides, to determine at what level exposure to pesticides are unsafe. Humans are obviously not laboratory animals, so there is a safety-factor built into regulations, such that humans will not be exposed to even 1/100 of the amount that would impair the health of a lab rat.

What is the best way to reduce the carbon footprint of the food I eat?

Some foods emit more greenhouse gases than others. Beef, for instance, has a higher carbon footprint per-calorie than most other foods. Vegans are often found to have smaller carbon footprints than their omnivorous counterparts. Rather than concentrating on which foods you eat, an alternative strategy is to buy cheaper food and use the savings to purchase carbon offsets. Although this may not have the cultural appeal as Meatless Mondays, it is arguably the best way to reduce the carbon footprint of your food.

Are foods made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) safe to eat?

The most prestigious scientific organizations like the National Academy of Sciences believe so. Those who both understand the science of genetic modification and fear such foods usually do so because they believe the corporations creating GMOs have excessive political influence. What is so interesting about the GMO debate is that the practice of cutting genes out of one organism and placing them into the DNA of another organism has become so controversial, yet the practice of altering plant genes by zapping their DNA with radiation has not. At my university, opposition to GMOs has discouraged us from improving wheat by genetic modification, but some of our best wheat varieties were created by inducing genetic mutations in wheat through chemicals. It is not clear why one of these is feared and the other one is ignored.

Should I join the local foods movement?

If you believe you can acquire better food from local sources, whether it be higher quality or lower prices, then yes, buying local foods is a great idea. The local food movement might also help induce a cultural change such that people begin eating healthier foods. That said, there is little validity to the argument that buying local foods is good for economic growth, and there is no guarantee that local foods are better for the environment.

Headline image credit: Ecologically grown vegetables by Elina Mark. CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The post The food we eat: A Q&A on agricultural and food controversies appeared first on OUPblog.

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Looking to increase your organic harvest? This is one of the most exciting farming books I've seen! It's not just bugs (although there are plenty); it's also cover crops, grassed waterways, and brush piles. Farming with Native Beneficial Insects has a wealth of information on introducing and restoring biodiversity for the backyard farmer as well [...]

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Lauren Appelwick, Publicity

Robert Paarlberg, author of  Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know, is a leading authority on food policy, and one of the most prominent scholars writing on agricultural issues today. He is B.F. Johnson Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. He was invited to testify in front of the House Committee on Agriculture on May 13th, and shared his thoughts with us here last week. Now, after presenting his testimony on obesity, Paarlberg reflects on the experience.  You can read an excerpt from his book here.

Picking up the story, recall that I was invited to testify before the House Agriculture Committee on May 13, to share my views on new farm legislation for 2012. I was expecting a frosty reception, since I have expressed some disparaging views of farm subsidies, and also of the House and Senate agriculture committees, in my newest book. Yet the hearing took a surprising turn. The Committee wasn’t that interested in my views on farm subsidies (they have well established views of their own). Instead they wanted to talk about obesity.

In both my written testimony and in my oral statement I bravely repeated my view that farm bills were too wasteful of taxpayer money, thanks in part to the “logroll” tactics used by the House Agriculture committee. When I was asked by a senior member what I thought the chances were that this tactic could work again in 2012, I said “100 percent.” He said he “took it as a personal compliment” that I had noticed and remarked on the success of this strategy.

What got the committee’s attention, however, was my warning that drafting another business-as-usual farm bill in 2012 was going to be more difficult, because of a strengthening belief that the farm subsidies are contributing to our nation’s obesity crisis by making unhealthy foods too cheap. The committee knew, and I confirmed in my testimony, that this is in fact an unfounded charge. When the farm bill places restrictions on sugar imports to protect the income of American sugar growers it actually make all sweetened products – from candy to ice cream – artificially expensive rather than cheap. And when Congress enacts subsidies and mandates to divert 30 percent of our corn crop to the making of ethanol for auto fuel, it is making both corn and other animal feeds – and hence all meat products – artificially expensive as well. Nor is it true that corn-based sweeteners are more obesity-inducing than natural sugar. Nor is it true that the price of junk food has fallen in America while the price of healthy foods (fruits and vegetables) has remained high. All of these misconceptions about farm programs are explained in Chapter Eight of my Oxford book, my chapter on “The Politics of Obesity.”

Yet the House Agriculture Committee also knew, and I confirmed, that over the past several years a number of highly influential non-scholarly books such as Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, plus vari

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So, last we checked in, I had 25 books checked out from the library that had to be read, and 15 books from 2006 and that to be blogged. As it stands now, I have checked out 2 more books, but read 4, so, now I have 23 to read. I blogged 5 unblogged books, so now I have 10 to go.

So the 4 new books, in the order in which I read them:

The Wednesday Wars Gary D. Schmidt

Holling Hoodhood is the only Protestant in his class, so every Wednesday, when everyone else goes to Hebrew School or Catholic School, Holling is stuck at school school, with Mrs. Baker, who we get the feeling was really wishing that she'd have Wednesday afternoons off and not be stuck with Holling.)

Mrs. Baker, who's husband (Tybalt) is a soldier in Vietnam, teaches Holling Shakespeare, which he likes, because Shakespeare really knew how to curse. In the meantime, there is baseball and running, hippies and the war, love and some giant rats in the ceiling.

Schmidt has written a wonderful book that has been raved about all over the blogosphere. I had one quibble with one little part of the ending, but I'll talk about that here.

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff by Jennifer L. Holm, pictures by Elicia Castaldi

Ginny is starting middle school, hoping to have a father and a lead in the Nutcracker and Swan Lake by the end of the year. And maybe her sweater back from her ex-best friend. In a story told through notes on the refrigerator, school assignments, IMs, postcards, report cards, bills, bank statements, and cartoons, we follow Ginny's year. She gains a father, but loses her brother who's juvenile crime sends him to military school. Funny and heartbreaking, a very amusing take on junior high and the graphic novel.


Sold by Patricia McCormick

I really wanted to read this after hearing McCormick speak and read at National Book Fest this fall.

Lakshmi is a peasant girl from a small village in the Nepalese Himalayas. After a horrible dry season comes a horrible monsoon season that washes away her family's crops. With the promise of a good job in the city, as a maid, Lakshmi's step-father sells her.

Only, they don't go to the city, but rather across the border into India, where she is sold two more times, ending up in a brothel as a child prostitute.

A novel in verse, Sold is told in vignettes, the sparse language lending to the Lakshmi's terror and confusion. There are moments of utter horror, and the beauty of everyday kindness.

McCormick tells this story well, matter of factly, but with beauty, never letting Lakshmi's voice stray into too much self-pity or the story go into emotional manipulation.

The Princess and the Hound Mette Ivie Harrison

If you liked The Goose Girl or Wildwood Dancing, you'll like this one.

George is a prince raised in duty, terrified that it will be discovered his posses the illegal and feared animal magic.

Beatrice is a princess trapped by her father and circumstance, resigned to marry for the sake of her kingdom.

More alike than they know, or will let themselves find out, they have to learn to trust each other to save each other.

And I know that sounds really lame, but it's a great story. I seriously thought about calling into work late so I could finish the last 100 pages.

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Rather than post my own HMOCL this week, I turn to our feminine correspondent in the field. As you can see, Kirby Larson's at it again with her second official Hot Woman of Children's Literature announcement. There's some hot Newbery honoree praising fellow honoree action going on here. Today's lady: Jennifer Holm.

What I Learned:

"The hottest thing of all about Jennifer Holm is that she is planning to attend the ALA Newbery Awards banquet less than two weeks after delivering a child!"

Woah. Really? Jenni, honey, don't kill yourself. I mean, you're awesome for wanting to do that plan, but if you don't feel up to it, don't sweat it. We'll understand. Matt, did you know about this?

Jennifer Holm: Superwoman

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Penny from Heaven
Author: Jennifer Holm
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 037583687X
ISBN-13: 978-0375836879

Penny from Heaven is the story of 12-year old Penny Falucci, an Italian-American girl growing up in the 1950’s. Her father has died under mysterious circumstances when Penny was very little. She and her mother live with her slightly eccentric maternal grandparents. The grandmother, Me-Me is a horrible cook, Pop-Pop, the grandfather is constantly working on the plumbing and causing leaks, Penny’s mother works very hard and is struggling to make a life for herself. Penny also has this huge, extended Italian family with one favorite cousin, a gaggle of aunts and uncles that are devoted to her as well as her Italian grandparents that adore her. For some reason, the two families do not get along.

Penny’s not lacking in love. What she is lacking in is knowledge of her father. Nobody speaks of him, no one will tell her how he died.

This summer begins like any other with Penny and her favorite cousin Frankie playing baseball, delivering meat from their uncle’s butcher shop and hanging out. For her birthday, her Uncle Dominic has bought her Dodgers (Dem Bums) tickets for her birthday. It’s her very first game so she’s understandably excited and wiggles out of her mother’s birthday celebration for her. It conveys both Penny’s excitement and her mother’s quiet resignation and hurt.

Penny’s mother starts dating the milkman, Mr. Mulligan and Penny goes nuts. She’s hurt, she’s jealous, she doesn’t give Mr. Mulligan or her mother a chance. Things start to escalate and then something happens to Penny that turns both families upside down and bring them closer. Old secrets are disclosed and a shameful history of the country is exposed.

The cast of characters in this book is completely amazing. Each one of the characters is very detailed, well-defined and multi-layered. The former dancer, Aunt Gina and her battles with Nonny, the Italian grandmother were very realistic. It sounded just like my grandmother Ruth and her disapproval of one of my aunts.

The post-war 1950’s are portrayed so vividly that you feel you’re in that time period. Everything is so real. There’s a lot of history woven into this book and I think boys will like it just as much as girls. The real fans however are going to be adults that remember that era fondly.

Penny from Heaven is a completely remarkable book and it has something for everyone. Highly recommended!

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Currently Reading: The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy, Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Just Finished: Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear, From a Crooked Rib, Kitchen

Oh, I have a lot to talk about, I don't even know where to begin. It's like when you're writing a paper and you just become paralyzed with the enormity of the task before you and freeze up and never get started.

So... let's talk about some books, eh? I guess I'll focus on award winners and those with buzz. We'll see how far I get tonight!

First up on the block is the lovely A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz

All Maud wants is to be adopted and to have a real family again. When the elderly Hawthorne sisters take her home, Maud is overjoyed. She has nice clothes, good food, and indoor plumbing. What Maud doesn’t have is any friends—she’s not allowed to go to school or see visitors. Maud is a secret, and when she finds out why, she has some very tough decisions to make about what’s important.

This was a very moving story about the compelling need for love and a home, versus doing what is right. At the same time, we get a good dose of spirituality and mediums and ghosts. It was wonderfully spooky without being scary.

I loved the way Maud's friendship developed with Muffet, the Hawthorne's deaf servant. I also liked the way that Maud really struggled with her decisions about what to do-- she didn't always want to do the right thing, and how Schlitz handles this conflict makes Maud so much more real and likeable.

It was getting a lot of well-deserved Newberry buzz and even though it didn't win and wasn't honored, you should still check it out.

Rules by Cynthia Lord.

This was a Newberry Honor, as well as the winner of the Schneider Family Book Award (for books about disabilities.)

Catherine is a twelve year old girl whose little brother, David, has autism. On one hand she is fiercely protective of him but on the other, she is mortified when h

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