Science In Your Shopping Cart

ARS scientists are turning nano fibers from cotton plants into mask filters, wound dressings, and other medical applications. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Check out some amazing wonderplants at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

ARS research entomologist Dr. Shawn Steffan works in cranberry country, USA – aka Madison, WI. Here, bees are vital to cranberry production, so keeping them healthy and happy are crucial. Steffan is studying the relationship between bees, their microbiome, and the environment in which they live and work. Listen how building a perfect symbiosis may be the key to long-term health of honey bees. Find...

ARS Research Geneticist, Dr. Dolores Mornhinweg at the Peanut and Small Grains Research Unit in Stillwater, OK is developing new Barley crop lines that are resistant to pests such as the Russian Wheat Aphid. Barley is an important part of the U.S. economy, bringing in over a billions dollars in crop value.  The Russian Wheat Aphid is a major pest to barley production in the U.S. Connect with us:  ...

We travel to Byron, Georgia, to the ARS Fruit and Tree Nut Research Unit, and visit with Research Horticulturist Chunxian Chen. Dr. Chen and his group recently released three new peach cultivars: Rich Joy, Crimson Joy, and Liberty Joy. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Hydration is so important to our bodies during exercise, perhaps more important than the exercise itself. Not properly hydrating during athletic competitions or every day exercising – even walking – can have damaging effects on our bodies. Of course, there are the physical effects, such as fatigue, exhaustion, and heat stroke. But there are also psychological factors that you may not be aware of....

ARS scientists are turning plant fibers in to single-use containers to one day replace non-biodegradable plastic containers. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

ARS researchers make sure the science, chemistry, and math all add up to great wine grape production across the U.S.  Learn about ARS’s crucial roles in wine grape production as our researchers’ find answers to the biggest problems facing the nation’s wine grape industry.   For this season of Science in Your Shopping Cart, we’re hitting the virtual wine trail to learn the science behind wine grape...

ARS researcher Arran Rumbaugh, a research chemist at the Crops Pathology and Genetics Research Unit in Davis, CA, is studying how smoke from wildfires can affect the chemical composition of wine grapes.     Wildfires from 2020 hurt wine grape production and had an estimated 3.7 billion dollars of economic impact on the wine industry due to smoke exposure and fire.   Dr. Rumbaugh is working on an e...

Making Popeye proud. ARS recently released the world’s first true red spinach, called “USDA Red”. Learn about the benefits this new powerful vegetable provides to consumers. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Tips on how to grow your own blueberry and blackberry plants right in your own backyard. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Bee experts Liz Walsh and Lanie Bilodeau offer tips for making your home yards more bee friendly. Find out how you can help honey bees by clicking on the extension service link below. https://extension.org/find-cooperative-extension-in-your-state/ Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Did you know that some wonderplants can be used to control and even kill annoying flies and mosquitoes? Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

These days, we are all more conscious of pesticide spraying, especially growers who rely on this method for keeping pests off their crops. ARS scientists have developed a revolutionary laser-guided sprayer to apply precise amounts of pesticide to their crops, cutting down significantly on the amount of pesticide sprayed onto fruits and vegetables. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @A...

ARS researchers Nancy Keim and Wally Yokoyama are looking to turn wine waste – mainly pomace or what the researchers call marcs – into healthy food products that end up in our shopping carts. Keim is studying the health benefits of combinations of chardonnay grape pomace and chardonnay grape extract.  As expected, the enriched flour is high in fiber and has a lot of bioactive material, which means...

Wendy Shaw, a registered dietitian formerly with the National Agricultural Library, discusses the importance of nutrition, from the world’s elite athletes to the weekend warriors.  Give it a listen. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Wheat is a big crop in the United States.  Stripe rust is one of the most important diseases for wheat.  ARS Research Plant Pathlogist, Xianming Chen and researchers with ARS’s Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research Unit in Pullman Washington are testing and developing new varieties of wheat that are resistant to the crop’s major disease threats, including stripe rust. Connect with us:   Twi...

ARS scientists are coming up with new ways to produce clean energy by developing a large filter-type application out of discarded almond shells that could capture and then store hydrogen, as well as other components for energy purposes. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Apple growers have a mystery on their hands. Something is killing popular dwarf apple trees, but researchers are unsure if the cause is environmental, viral, soil-based, or something else. ARS scientists are on the case! Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

ARS researcher Bradley King, a research agricultural engineer at ARS’s Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research lab in Kimberly, ID, is utilizing AI technology to help wine growers determine the best times to water their vineyards.  King and his colleagues developed a validated, automated model that uses artificial intelligence to remotely calculate the daily crop water stress index so wine growers...

The U.S. imports around $5 billion in cocoa and chocolate products annually, and we produce millions of pounds of chocolate for consumers. The health benefits of dark chocolate are well known, mainly it has more antioxidants than milk chocolate because it contains more cacao solids. But dark chocolate can be brittle and taste bitter.  What if we could make milk chocolate as healthy as dark chocola...

Meet ARS researcher Jacob Corcoran, a research molecular biologist at ARS’s Biological Control of Insects Unit in Columbia, MO.  Corcoran and his team are working on a new age, next generation approach to biological control to slow down the reproductive process to protect wine vineyards from dreaded vine mealybugs. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService Linked...

Nanoparticles help protect your body from germs and other microbials, it also fights body odor, especially from sweating.  ARS researchers have figured out a better way for for attaching nanoparticles to clothing. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Learn about innovations and research that ARS scientists are conducting to turn cotton waste into agro-based biodegradable polymers. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars

Get the inside story of how ARS researchers created an automated, objective method for detecting imperfections on a hide - a method that greatly benefits U.S. leather producers. Connect with us:   Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars