NEWS POST: Scientists Make Breakthrough In The Battle Against Rice Fungus

Healthy rice grains

Scientists have found a way to stop the spread of rice blast, a fungus that destroys up to 30% of the world's rice crop each year.

An international team led by the University of Exeter showed that chemical genetic inhibition of a single protein in the fungus stops it spreading inside a rice leaf - leaving it trapped within a single plant cell.

The finding is a breakthrough in terms of understanding rice blast, a disease that is hugely important in terms of global food security. However, the scientists caution that this is a "fundamental" discovery - not a cure that can yet be applied outside the laboratory.

The research revealed how the fungus can manipulate and then squeeze through natural channels (called plasmodesmata) that exist between plant cells.

"This is an exciting breakthrough because we have discovered how the fungus is able to move stealthily between rice cells, evading recognition by the plant immune system," said senior author Professor Nick Talbot FRS, of the University of Exeter.

"It is clearly able to suppress immune responses at pit fields (groups of plasmodesmata), and also regulate its own severe constriction to squeeze itself through such a narrow space.

"And all this is achieved by a single regulatory protein. It's a remarkable feat."

Rice field with rice blast

Rice blast threatens global food security, destroying enough rice each year to feed 60 million people. It spreads within rice plants by invasive hyphae (branching filaments) which break through from cell to cell. In their bid to understand this process, the researchers used chemical genetics to mutate a signalling protein to make it susceptible to a specific drug.

The protein, PMK1, is responsible for suppressing the rice's immunity and allowing the fungus to squeeze through pit fields - so, by inhibiting it, the researchers were able to trap the fungus within a cell.

This level of precision led the team to discover that just one enzyme, called a MAP kinase, was responsible for regulating the invasive growth of rice blast. The research team hope this discovery will enable them to identify targets of this enzyme and thereby determine the molecular basis of this devastating disease.

The research was led by Dr Wasin Sakulkoo, who recently received his PhD from Exeter. Dr Sakulkoo is a Halpin Scholar, a programme initiated by the generosity of Exeter alumni Les and Claire Halpin, which funds students from rice-growing regions of the world to study with Professor Talbot's research group. Dr Sakulkoo is from Thailand, and has returned home to a new position in industry following graduation.

The research was published in the journal Science.

Originally published on PHYS.ORG

NEWS POST: In Côte d'Ivoire, ‘Drone Academy’ Offers Youth The Chance To Soar

The Côte d'Ivoire Electricity Company (CIE) is using drones to revolutionize the inspection of its infrastructure

"Drones have become my passion," says Noursely Doumbia, who holds a degree in electronics and is currently learning to pilot drones as part of a pioneering programme in Côte d'Ivoire's economic capital Abidjan.

The training is being offered at a new "drone academy" which has been set up by the Ivorian Electricity Company (CIE) in order to revolutionize the inspection of its infrastructure and ultimately to reduce costs.

Although common in Europe, the use of drones is still in its infancy in West Africa although the commercial market for unmanned aircraft is expanding.

The aim is for CIE — which is majority-owned by France's Eranove Group, a key provider of water and electricity in West Africa — to train around 20 local pilots to inspect its high-voltage lines which criss-cross the country, stretching more than 25,000 kilometres (15,500 miles).

"We have a lot of problems with vegetation, we need to clear it all the time and it's difficult because it's all across the whole country," explains Benjamin Mathon, a pilot who is in charge of CIE's drone and youth training programme.

Dirt tracks that are impassable following heavy rain, widespread areas of lush tropical vegetation and a patchy road network often conspire to make access to electricity pylons difficult in a country which covers 322,000 square kilometres (124,000 square miles) -- nearly two-thirds the area of France.

After overflying an area with a drone equipped with cameras and thermal and laser sensors, "we use artificial intelligence programmes which analyse the images for any defects, a rusty bolt on a pylon, a damaged cable," explains Mathon.

Slashing inspection times

Students at CIE's academy are taught how to assemble and maintain drones as well as learning to pilot the unmanned aircraft

"The drone allows us to analyze a large number of lines in a short space of time, across great distances," he says.

Not only do students learn how to fly drones, as well as how to assemble and repair them, but are they also trained to use different software packages for analyzing the images and resulting data, as well as geolocalization and mapping.

"This is a major technological leap forward for CIE" and its 4,500 employees, says CIE Director General Dominique Kakou.

The drones enable CIE to "to inspect our infrastructure and ensure its safety in a much more pinpointed way, and also to optimize our costs and expenses," he says.

Before now, all inspections were done by helicopter or by teams on the ground, Mathon explains.

"Using helicopters is expensive, and on foot, you have to send out teams to areas which can be difficult to reach, which can create problems."

Immediate cost savings

The financial savings are undeniable: the cost of purchasing a helicopter is around €500,000, with each one hour flight costing another €1,200. A drone, however, costs between €2,000 and €100,000 to buy, its upkeep is simple and flight costs are negligible.

The company is hoping to improve its quality of service by reducing the average length of power outages — which are still relatively frequent in parts of the country — for its 1.3 million customers in Côte d'Ivoire. And it hopes to do the same for its customer base in neighbouring Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Until now, inspections of Côte d'Ivoire's electricity network have been done by helicopter or by teams on the ground

Since 2011, following a decade of political and military crisis, Côte d'Ivoire has invested heavily in rebuilding its electricity grid, with the authorities planning to plough another 16 billion euros into the sector by 2030.

"The electricity sector is evolving very fast, we must adopt new technologies and innovation," said Kakou who says the company has already invested in electronic payment schemes and solar energy.

Window on tomorrow

But the drone academy is not just serving the electricity sector: it is open to any business in West Africa which could benefit from the technology, from farming to mining, says Paul Ginies, director of the Centre for Electrical Professions, CIE's training division.

"These new professions provide a way in for young people," he says. "I'm sure that young Africans are going to grab hold of this and surprise us by developing applications which we have not thought of. It's their generation."

Alice Kouadio, another trainee pilot from the first group of students, has no doubt. "The world is a drone, it's the promise of tomorrow."

Originally published on DAILY MAIL UK WIRES

NEWS POST: British Inner-City Teacher Named World’s Best, Wins US$1 Million Prize

British teacher Andria Zafirakou (L) receives the "Global Teacher Prize" from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai during an award ceremony in Dubai on March 18, 2018

Briton Andria Zafirakou, who works in a school in one of the UK's poorest areas, on Sunday won the US$1 million Global Teacher Prize for 2018 at a star-studded ceremony in Dubai.

The arts and textiles teacher from the Alperton Community College of Brent, an inner-city school in London, was among 10 finalists from around the globe for the annual award. Thirty thousand candidates were in the running.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum and British Prime Minister Theresa May were among the first to congratulate her. "Congratulations to Andria Zafirakou for having won the Global Teacher award," tweeted Sheikh Mohammed after handing her the prize. He said teaching "is the greatest job" ever, and described teachers as "stars".

May, in a video message broadcast at the gala event, said: "Being a great teacher requires resilience, ingenuity, and a generous heart. These are the qualities that you share with your students everyday.

"So thank you for all you have done and continue to do."

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton raced to the venue to deliver the trophy while South African comedian Trevor Noah hosted the event which included a performance by Oscar-winning actress and Grammy award winning singer Jennifer Hudson.

British Formula One driver for Mercedes' AMG Petronas team Lewis Hamilton arrives with the "Global Teacher Prize" trophy for the awards ceremony in Dubai on March 18, 2018

Brent, where Zafirakou teaches, is considered an ethnically diverse and disadvantaged area and many of her students come from impoverished homes.

The area is also rife with gang violence and Zafirakou faced "a daunting task when she joined the school", the organizers said in a statement. "But throughout the school and on the streets she is driving change" working "closely with the police to identify potential issues and (gang) recruiters."

She redesigned the school's curriculum "to resonate with an ethnically diverse student body" and learnt the basics of some of the 35 languages spoken at the school to communicate with parents and students.

Zafirakou also "reworked the school's timetable to allow girls-only sport, important in a conservative community. The result? A cup-winning girls' cricket team," the statement said. Her hard work paid and placed Alperton Community College "in the top five percent in England and Wales for improving pupils' achievement".

The Dubai-based Varkey Foundation organized the event, the fourth time it has handed out the prize for best teacher. The winner will walk away with US$1 million which will be paid in equal instalments over 10 years on one condition — she continues teaching for at least five years

Originally published on DAILY MAIL UK