Serious

In this category you will find mostly factual information and analyses. This is where the scientist I used to be comes to the fore. There are graphs and numbers and statistics…

More about pesticides in the European Union

There are many methods to assess environmental impacts of pesticides. We compare a composite index… read more

Published on 2024-10-26

Updated on 2024-10-28

Pesticide use in the European Union: the good, the bad and the ugly listed

350000 tonnes of pesticides are used annually by European farmers. The largest pesticide consumption intensity… read more

Published on 2024-10-23

Updated on 2024-10-28

Anoxic utrification of Laurustine (Viburnum tinus L.) leaves

Under anoxic conditions decaying Laurustine leaves (Viburnum tinus) can spontaneously inflate, i.e. fill with gas… read more

Published on 2024-09-05

Updated on 2024-09-24

A small case study of a “domestic” Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) infestation in NW Italy

Popillia, the Japanese beetle, has arrived in north-west Italy about 10 years ago, and it… read more

Published on 2024-08-15

Updated on 2024-10-21

How good are your old pendrives?

We all have been accumulating a number of mass storage devices, in the form of… read more

Published on 2024-06-30

Updated on 2024-07-17

Un jumeau numérique pour le Système alimentaire mondial?

Le système alimentaire mondial est tellement complexe qu' il est virtuellement impossible à modéliser. Et… read more

Published on 2023-03-08

Updated on 2023-05-15

Wine: who makes it and who drinks it

This post was triggered by a recent visit I made to a posh winery in… read more

Published on 2022-10-04

Updated on 2022-11-16

Refugees

An analysis published by FAO at mid September 20191 lists dry weather and protracted conflicts… read more

Published on 2021-03-24

Updated on 2023-01-08

Disasters: sources of information and trends

This post gives a list of web-based sources that publish disaster information suitable for monitoring.… read more

Published on 2019-05-04

Updated on 2023-01-08

East African humanitarian crisis

https://www.nbcnews.com/slideshow/news/refugees-flee-drought-war-in-east-africa-34244347

East Africa is suffering a deep humanitarian crisis brought about a complex interaction between war… read more

Published on 2017-09-24

Updated on 2023-01-08

Global grain stocks

Although they are of paramount strategic importance (or, maybe, because of their strategic importance!) world… read more

Published on 2017-06-04

Updated on 2023-03-09

Un succès mondial qui dure: l’école prussienne

Updated on 2023-01-13; reformatted on 2024-10-09 L’école primaire obligatoire telle que nous la connaissons s’est… read more

Published on 2016-03-25

Updated on 2024-10-09

Why are US presidents taller than ordinary Americans?

Many websites, including Wikipedia, compare the height of US presidents with their main contenders and… read more

Published on 2015-09-27

Updated on 2024-10-30

African geomatics centres

Many African countries have established and operate dedicated institutions dealing with remote sensing, mapping, GIS,… read more

Published on 2015-01-24

Updated on 2023-01-08

Cellphone and internet boom in Africa!

The adoption of new Information and Communicatons Technology (ICT) at the macro and micro levels… read more

Published on 2015-01-22

Updated on 2023-01-08

Amazing maize…

The post analyses current trends of maize yield and production, and tries to look ahead… read more

Published on 2014-10-18

Updated on 2023-01-08

Global food supply trends in 2014, and beyond!

This post analyses the trends of yield, area, and production in the 31 countries that… read more

Published on 2014-04-02

Updated on 2023-01-08

Using the simple “Miami” Net Primary Production (NPP) potential as a crop monitoring indicator

Routine crop monitoring is done with indices which indirectly describe or capture the effect of… read more

Published on 2014-01-26

Updated on 2024-10-04

Crop monitoring dialects

There are many national and a handful of international crop monitoring and forecasting systems. All… read more

Published on 2013-02-20

Updated on 2015-01-25

Forecast and even planned: the Vajont dam disaster

The post on the risky business of forecasting is updated every time something happens with the… read more

Published on 2012-10-31

Updated on 2023-01-08

Pandemics and Tipping points

Experts I’ve interviewed over the past six years generally agree that such a Next Big… read more

Published on 2012-10-09

Updated on 2023-01-14

Civilisation-ending volcanic winter (note 1)

First published 20120718 /  last updated on 20120924 Is climate change the worst nightmare scenario… read more

Published on 2012-07-18

Updated on 2023-01-08

Projects that will (perhaps) save the planet

(Published 20100212 / Last updated 20111207) There are basically three types of BIG problems facing… read more

Published on 2011-12-07

Updated on 2015-07-12

Mountain climate(s)

This note about mountain climate is an updated and expanded version of an earlier text… read more

Published on 2011-11-01

Updated on 2011-11-16

Mixing oil, water and food in Saudi Arabia

Updated 20110922 In reaction to the first oil crisis of the mid seventies, the kingdom… read more

Published on 2011-08-08

Updated on 2023-01-08

La famine de 1845 en Irlande

Cette famine me fascine depuis longtemps. J’ai écrit ce petit texte il y a quelques… read more

Published on 2011-07-25

Updated on 2023-01-08

How to find information on a computer? (revised_02; 20100131)

This is a revised version of the 20100103 post. Tom rightly commented on 2010110 that… read more

Published on 2010-01-11

Updated on 2015-01-22

Recent rainfall and cattle trends in the Central-Western Sahel

  The graph shows recent trends of climate, urbanisation and a livestock production index (meat… read more

Published on 2009-09-10

Updated on 2011-10-19

Einstein on crises

Crazy wig

Below is a text by Einstein, which I got somewhere on the web. I like… read more

Published on 2009-03-30

Updated on 2022-08-14