Rice farmers in West Africa have developed a new type of rice in the last few years, Wageningen researchers have found out. This has come about through spontaneous cross-breeding in the field between African and Asian rice cultivars.

Farmers in West Africa have two sorts of rice at their disposal: Asian rice with high potential yields and African rice, which is better adapted to local conditions. Rice is self-pollinating, which means there is no cross-pollination as a rule. Yet there is still a 0.5% chance of cross-pollination occurring, says Dr. Edwin Nuijten from the Chair Group Technology and agrarian development (TAO), who is involved in the research. After enough generations, this cross-breeding leads to new plants. Farmers have kept aside seed from these new plants, sown them again and exchanged the seeds. Like this, varieties of this new rice type have quietly spread through the region.

The Wageningen researchers used molecular techniques to show that the new hybrid was genetically different to African and Asian rice. The new type of rice gives fairly stable yields and has a short growing season, making it suitable for the short rainy season in Gambia and Senegal, says Nuijten. The hybrid is also well-adapted to the poor West African soils.

Nuijten and his colleagues found closely related varieties of this hybrid in Sierra Leone, Gambia, Guinee Bissau, Guinee Conakry and Senegal. He guesses that the hybrid has emerged spontaneously in several countries, leading to a group of hybrids with the same genetic basis. The researchers are still puzzling over a rice variety developed by farmers in Ghana and Togo, which differs not only from known Asian and African rice varieties, but also from the hybrids in the neighbouring countries. They have not yet managed to trace the starting material for this variety.

As well as TAO, the Plant Physiology chair group and the Netherlands Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN) are also involved in the research, financed by the NWO programme WOTRO, which supports scientific research on development issues. Policymakers and donors should pay more attention to knowledge development and exchange, according to the researchers, who talk of unsupervised learning. This is in contrast to supervised learning, in which plant breeders and scientists tell farmers what to do. ‘It is important to link research with farmers’ knowledge’, says Nuijten, ‘in order to get a better idea of what farmers need. For instance, we are now finding out from the farmers concerned whether we can improve these new rice varieties in any way, or whether we can help with the process of exchange.’

[>via] Williams says that in January, during a game at the Binghamton sports arena, Assistant Athletic Director Chris Lewis introduced her to a corporate donor who was partial to "big-chested, loud-mouthed women." Later, Williams said, she expressed her shock to her boss, Jason Siegel, when two 4-year-old twin boys lifted her skirt while she was visiting their family in an arena box. "Siegel told Williams that that was part of taking one for the team," the lawsuit says.

Siegel, a senior associate athletic director, looked down her shirt and started at her breasts, the lawsuit says.

Williams says the indecent proposal from an alum came during a Jan. 12, 2009, dinner as Siegel watched.

The alumnus started laying hundred-dollar bills on the table and told her to stop him when he had put down enough for her to sleep with him, the suit says.

The Obama Administration sent a strong message to the nation today that it is time to start planning and preparing for the fall flu season and the ongoing H1N1 flu outbreak and that the federal government is prepared to commit resources, training, and new tools to help state and local governments and America’s families get ready.

White House Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined with delegations from 54 states, tribes and territories today at the H1N1 Influenza Preparedness Summit at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to kick-off the government’s nation-wide fall flu preparedness efforts.

Throughout the one-day summit, Administration officials laid out specific ways that states and local governments could start their planning and preparation efforts and announced new programs and resources to help state and local governments, the medical community and every day America prepare for H1N1 and the fall flu season.

First, HHS will make available preparedness grants worth a total of $350 million. These grants were funded by Congress in the latest supplemental appropriations bill and they will give state and local public health offices and health care systems valuable resources to step up their preparedness efforts.

Second, the federal government will centralize communications about H1N1 and seasonal flu on the federal government’s new Web site www.flu.gov. This one-stop comprehensive site brings together flu-related information from across HHS and other federal agencies. The expanded site builds on the pandemic planning information long presented on www.pandemicflu.gov, and incorporates information about the novel H1N1 flu as well as the seasonal flu.

Finally, HHS is launching a new PSA campaign contest to encourage more Americans to get involved in the nation’s flu preparedness efforts by making a 15-second or 30-second PSA. Officials at the summit stressed the idea of “shared responsibility” when it comes to combating the flu and the goal of the new HHS PSA campaign contest is to tap into the nation’s creativity to help educate Americans about how to plan for and prevent the spread of H1NI influenza. HHS will evaluate submissions and will present the best PSAs back to the public so everyone can vote on their favorite submission. The winning PSA will receive $2,500 in cash and will appear on national television. Contest details as well more information about the larger effort to plan and prepare for the flu season are available at www.flu.gov.

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The fare promotion, along with other sales launched by fellow low-fare carriers Frontier Airlines Inc. and AirTran Airways Inc., marked an early – and deep – start to the airline industry's annual efforts to fill their airplanes in the slower travel period that begins after Labor Day.

Southwest structured its sale based on the distance flown – one-way fares of $30 for trips of up to 400 miles, $60 for 400 to 750 miles and $90 for more than 750 miles. That offers a significant discount from the usual nonsale tickets sold several weeks in advance.