Villagers and park staff try to scare a rhinoceros away from crops in Bachhauli village. Photo: Peter Gill
On a sunny afternoon in January 2021, a male rhinoceros lumbered through intensively farmed land in Bachhauli, a village outside Chitwan National Park in Nepal’s Terai plains. Eschewing a patch of potatoes, he turned his attention to a field of buckwheat, munching on the bright pink blossoms before plopping himself into an irrigation canal to wallow in the cool, slow-flowing water.
Worriedly watching the animal from a safe distance, Ramesh Pathak, a tall farmer with green eyes, used his mobile phone to call a game scout from the park. “He’s back again. When can you come?” Pathak asked. The rhino had grazed on Pathak’s crops several days in a row, and he was desperate for help in chasing the animal away.
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2School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
A pervasive opposition to genetically modified (GM) foods has developed from the notion that they pose a risk to human and environmental health. Other techniques for the genetic modification of plants, such as sexual crossing and mutagenesis breeding, have mostly remained unchallenged. This research aims to investigate public perception of plant breeding technologies. Specifically, sexual crossing, mutagenesis, transgenics (GM) and gene editing. It was expected that attitudes and intentions would be most positive and the perception of risk lowest for plant genetic modification through sexual crosses. Scores on these variables were expected to be similar between mutagenesis, GM and gene editing. It was also expected that attitudes, intentions and risk perception would change (becoming more positive) once participants learned about foods developed through these technologies. Participants reported
The Cold Winds of War - Archaeology Magazine archaeology.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archaeology.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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With research, communities should lead and academics follow Historically, research was done ‘on’ communities. A new generation of researchers seeks to reverse this harmful practice. They say the goals of a newer, more beneficial method – community-led research – will only be fulfilled when communities take the research reigns.
Dr James Flexner (centre) undertaking community-led research in Vanuatu. Credit: Dr Flexner.
There is an upside to arriving in Vanuatu with just a GPS, a notepad, and a few basic supplies. University of Sydney archaeologist Dr James Flexner learnt this when instead of delving into technical work, he met with local chiefs and elders who explained the local landscape of Williams Bay. “The result was ultimately probably richer and more interesting than if I had simply followed the orthodox approach to archaeological survey,” he said.