Science

Down to Earth

Undergraduates require access to authentic field environments to learn effectively. An undergraduate student (left) assists a Ph.D. candidate (center) deploying targets prior to a UAV (drone) aerial imagery survey, under the guidance of an expert geospatial scientist (right), in coastal dunes on Kangaroo Island after a significant bushfire. Photograph by A. Turner.

No replacement for field trips: The importance of hands-on learning in earth science

September 24, 2025

How do soils hold water?

September 3, 2025

Science briefs

Texas A&M's maize field early in the growing season (College Station, TX). Photo courtesy of Fatma Ozair.

Improvements in grain yield performance prediction for maize hybrids

September 23, 2025

Predictive ability overestimates the relative accuracy of phenomic prediction (PP) versus genomic prediction (GP) models. Colored dots correlate with different traits tested in each case study. (A) Differences between estimated PP and GP accuracies are plotted against their estimated predictive abilities. Points to the right of the line are where the accuracy of these PP models tends to be overestimated compared with GP models, even when the PP models are actually less accurate (lower right quadrant).

Do not directly compare cross-validation results between genomic and phenomic predictions

September 23, 2025

Some of the seed diversity found in lentil. Photo courtesy of Derek Michael Wright.

Breeding potential for increased protein in lentil

September 22, 2025

Dr. Deniz Istipliler, a researcher at Ege University in Turkey, collecting leaves for hyperspectral imaging in Lincoln, NE as part of a collaborative project with the Nebraska-based Schnable and Yang labs. Photo courtesy of the Schnable Lab, University of Nebraska—Lincoln.

Leaf spectra can predict hybrid vigor in maize

September 22, 2025

Robusta coffee beans make up a large portion of the global coffee market, yet they are relatively understudied. Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Robusta coffee yields are limited by magnesium on smallholder farms in the Ecuadorian Amazon

September 22, 2025

Sebastián Bravo Peña, first author on the study and Ph.D. candidate in the Soil Physics and Land Management Group (SLM) at Wageningen University & Research, taking soil samples with Dr. Dorota Dec, collaborator on the project from the Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Soils (IIAS) at the Austral University of Chile. Image courtesy of Dr. José Dörner, IIAS.

Volcanic soil structure dynamics shape water retention variability

August 20, 2025

Features

Cover photo courtesy of iStock/chudakov2.

The fate of fentanyl

September 15, 2025

Illustration courtesy of Adobe Stock/lblinova and ANik.

Converging grape varieties could mean a less diverse future for wine

August 26, 2025

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