Scientists have developed a breakthrough “superfood” for honeybees by engineering yeast to produce the essential nutrients normally found in pollen. In controlled trials, colonies fed this specially designed diet produced up to 15 times more young, showing a dramatic boost in reproduction and overall health. As climate change and modern agriculture reduce the availability of natural pollen, this innovation could offer a practical way to support struggling bee populations.

Using CRISPR-Cas9, scientists engineered a yeast to produce the nutrient feed. Farmers could have it in two years.

    • arrow74@lemmy.zipEnglish
      8·
      22 hours ago

      Yes well known fact we shouldn’t research any technology to reverse the collapse of our biosphere or to alleviate climate change. Wouldn’t want anyone being able to sell that tech. Best we just turn off the lights and plant some flowers.

      I love planting some flowers, but we’re going to need technology to undo the mess we created.

      • pet the cat, walk the dog@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        20 hours ago

        Plenty of companies have been founded by former university researchers based on discoveries they’ve made while at said universities. Seems like nothing prevents those folks from patenting the newfound methods for themselves.

        Or, they will license the technology to a big manufacturer. Seeing as the University of Oxford is probably ill-equipped to produce industrial amounts of yeast.

        • despoticruin@lemmy.zipEnglish
          2·
          14 hours ago

          You would be surprised, yeast vats and breweries have a ton of overlap, IE pretty cheap tanks and reasonably standard infrastructure. Most universities with a biology research wing are going to have a few bio-reactors, and while they may not be able to produce the feed itself industrially, they can easily breed starters to sell to places like breweries and companies that already produce yeast at massive scale.

            • despoticruin@lemmy.zipEnglish
              1·
              14 minutes ago

              I mean, yeah. What did you think a bio-reactor was but a really fancy carboy?

              There is some nuance in amenities, but at the end of the day it is a temperature-controlled and sterile environment for microbial growth to take place.