Note for users: None of this should be taken as read. Cross out any sentences you don’t like. Use margins for insults. Previous parts can be found here here and here. EROSION We lie on the proceeds of coastal erosion and flick the pages of a half-baked novel as some…

Note for users: None of this should be taken as read. Cross out any sentences you don’t like. Use margins for insults. Feel free to read parts I and II. CURTAINS The wellspring of contradictions. We love the light and we hate it; we love to be seen and we…

Note for users: None of this should be taken as read. Cross out any sentences you don’t like. Use margins for insults. BAGS To have a thing, or even things: the most basic status symbol. Bags provide an ideal means of concealment, the prop in an elaborate piece of theatre…

There is a man lying not-dead dead On the bridge, as if it matters Police in attendance Rubber-necked barely bother to twist There is a teenager pushing a supermarket trolley Over a precipice into shrubs To assess what is the point Would be a waste of everyone’s time Another bloke takes a piss Beside a municipal dustbin A lady screams at an aloof seagull In something like Esperanto So here it is, another day, hooray

Note for users: None of this should be taken as read. Cross out any sentences you don’t like. Use margins for insults. ANTICIPATION Can we bottle that thing? Not the thing itself but the bit before; often the longer bit, almost always the sweeter. The main reason to get things…

I’ve covered the invasive and destructive brown marmorated stink bug before. Here’s the latest on the scientific efforts to detect and contain it, originally published on Farming Future Food. Artificial intelligence may help reduce the time and effort required to effectively monitor the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) in…

Originally published on Farming Future Food Genetically-engineering a protein from wasp venom into a fungus used in sustainable pest control increases its effectiveness against two major pests of a number of economically-important crops. In a study carried out at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researchers inserted a protein known as…

Originally published on Farming Future Food Genetically-engineering a protein from wasp venom into a fungus used in sustainable pest control increases its effectiveness against two major pests of a number of economically-important crops. In a study carried out at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researchers inserted a protein known as…

Originally published by Farming Future Food. Hemp (Cannabis sativa) production is on the up worldwide, with many possible uses for the crop, beyond production of cannabinol products. One novel idea is to repurpose some of the plant’s chemical components as organic biopesticides. According to research, hemp-derived essential oils could be…