at the University of Napoli hypothesized that a plant that made its own chitinase could protect itself against pests. They generated genetically engineered (GE) plants that produced chitinase, then tested the effect of the chitinase-producing GE plants on fungi and tobacco budworm larvae.

Tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens)

The results, published in a 2008 article in Transgenic Research, showed reduced fungal growth and abnormally slow weight gain in the insect larvae after they ingested the plants. This suggests that chitinase-producing GE plants protect themselves against damage from fungi and insect larvae better than non-GE plants.

In a future article, I will report on research which suggests that combining TMOF and chitinase improves crop protection against insect pests.

One reason for genetically engineered (GE) cotton’s dramatic and rapid acceptance by farmers is its improvedAmid all the impeachment drama, the New York Times just dropped another bombshell. According to newly released accounts of former national security adviser John Bolton’s memoir, Trump asked Bolton as early as May, two months before the infamous call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, to help Rudy Giuliani score a meeting with the Ukrainian president.

The latest leak from Bolton’s book comes a day after House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel revealed that he received a call from the career foreign-policy hawk expressing concern about the dismissal of U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

Regardless of how the impeachment drama shakes out, there's an alarming subtext to this narrative: In the span of just weeks, Bolton has turned from everybody’s favorite villain to a paragon of integrity — just because he