Adventure Ausrama Blog

Selection of the most suitable plants has been going on for thousands of years, but it has never been so intensive as modern times. It is not so much farmers who do it today. Scientists are doing this as their main work. Ram Singh a geneticist crossed a wild Australian plant with soybean to produce a super crop. Many soybean diseases have been stopped in their tracks. It wasn't easy though. Success came after years of research. The first attempt to "blend" wild Glycine attributes with soybean took place in 1983. A new process which prevents hybrid seeds from becoming sterile was the key to creating the special soybean. Many back crosses with the parent plant were necessary. Ram Singh sent seeds to other scientists as he was working. Outside input from them was a great help. Soybean is a very imported crop that feeds the world. Many products are derived from it. There is hope for the future as 26 wild species of Glycine exist. Most are disease resistant. T...

People living in different places "breed" at different rates. Reasons put forward are level of income, education of women and access to contraceptives. Family size has also changed at various places in history. The adventurous ones who ventured far and wide had more children than those who remained in established urban centers. This is particularly the case for British and French settlers in North America. Resources were more plentiful in new unsettled regions. For example, buffalo and native animals could easily be shot and eaten on the spot. New settlers were also healthier, being active for most of their lives. An examination of Canadian records since 1608 shows that couples on the outer edge of expansion had 20 per cent more children than those remaining in established regions. They also married younger. The pioneer contribution to the gene pool was four time greater than those who settled in populated areas. Church records were the main data source. If the numb...

How could the experts get it so wrong. For many years we were told that Australia should populate or perish. The Bureau of Statistics has released data showing that 296,00 births occurred in 2008. This is 10,000 more that 2007 and 1971, earlier record years. The fertility rate for women is high at 1.97 babies for every female. Tasmanians are really getting on with it (must be the cold climate) with a fertility rate of 2.24. Hot Darwin had a lower rate of 1.76. Not only are women having more babies, but the proportion of women in the population is rising. And the reason for this increase is financial. The Government pays $5,000 to a woman to have a baby. Women are getting pregnant in some cases just to get the money. If they want a big ticket item they see this as the way to get it, irrespective of the lifetime cost of bringing up a child. Another thing is that women who have put off having babies are now reaching the point of no return where they must act or never have children. http:...