For volume 16.1
This year has been declared the International Year of Plant Health by the United Nations General Assembly, the idea is to raise awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development. In this issue of Quest we show some ways in which scientific research is helping to protect plants from pests and diseases, manage the risks and mitigate the impacts. IPM: Quest explores how Integrated Pest Management helps protect plant health-Fall armyworm in maize: Hannalene du Plessis, Johnnie van den Berg and Annemie Erasmus discuss risk management options-Genetics to the fore: Kirsty Botha tells us how disease resistance in wheat can be improved-Viruses as biopesticides: Michael Jukes and Marcel van der Merwe review progress-Bats versus macadamia crop pests: Sina Weier, Valerie Linden and Peter Taylor share their findings-Remote sensing to the rescue: Christine Cuénod explains how satellite imagery can be used in pest detection-Chemistry for clean air-Local astronomers witness starburst heatwave-Africa’s first PhD in indigenous knowledge of astronomy-UJ take top spots at 3MT-Small science for big innovations: Nicklaus Kruger reports from SA NanoSchool-Decoding the mystery of DNA: René Veikondis and Alvera Vorster give examples of DNA sequencing applications-People and plants in the Stone Age: May Murungi tells us about archaeobotany at Bushman Rock Shelter-Shedding light on point of care diagnostics: The CSIR biophotonics group share their research.
For volume 16.2
COVID-19 early warning systems: Quest reviews some options. Flood warnings: Natasha Ramdass reports on the eThekwini FEWS. Predicting drought: Piotr Wolski explains the complexities of drought early warning systems. ITIKI: A drought prediction tool that uses indigenous knowledge. SuperDARN: Judy Stephenson tells us about space weather warnings. Harmful algal blooms: Satellite-based early warning systems for marine and freshwater HABs. Jupiter’s water mystery. Nanotechnology for pollination studies. Science Lens®competition. Zoonosis: Pathogens that jump the species barrier. Tweaking the timeline of human evolution: Quest reports on the discovery of a Homo erectus fossil. Glaucoma: Susan Williams explains the genetic link. Mineral resources for energy storage: A Council for GeoScience team share their vanadium related research.
