|
ETC Group (eco-justice)
The Action Group on Erosion, Technology, and Concentration (ETC), pronounced "et cetera," is an advocacy organization based around "the conservation and sustainable advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human rights." ETC frequently publishes opinions on scientific research by its staff and board members, covering topics such as community and regional planning, ecology, evolutionary biology, and political science. History The ETC Group, known until September 1, 2001 as the ''Rural Advancement Foundation International'' (RAFI), has historical roots linked to the National Sharecroppers Fund which was established in the 1930s. Initiated by Eleanor Roosevelt and other reformers, the Fund aimed to provide support for predominantly black tenant farmers in the United States and advocate for their rights. In the early 1970s, Pat Roy Mooney, Pat Mooney, Hope Shand, and Cary Fowler began focusing on seed-related issues under the auspices of the Rural Advancement Foundation. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Dollars
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish dollar, Spanish silver dollar, divided it into 100 cent (currency), cents, and authorized the Mint (facility), minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color. The U.S. dollar was originally defined under a bimetallism, bimetallic standard of (0.7734375 troy ounces) fine silver or, from Coinage Act of 1834, 1834, fine gold, or $20.67 per troy ounce. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 linked the dollar solely to gold. From 1934, its equivalence to gold was revised to $35 per troy ounce. In 1971 all links to gold were repealed. The U.S. dollar became an important intern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organization
An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution (formal organization), or an Voluntary association, association—comprising one or more person, people and having a particular purpose. Organizations may also operate secretly or illegally in the case of secret society , secret societies, criminal organizations, and resistance movements. And in some cases may have obstacles from other organizations (e.g.: Southern Christian Leadership Conference, MLK's organization). What makes an organization recognized by the government is either filling out Incorporation (business), incorporation or recognition in the form of either societal pressure (e.g.: Advocacy group), causing concerns (e.g.: Resistance movement) or being considered the spokesperson o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synthetic Biology
Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary field of science that focuses on living systems and organisms. It applies engineering principles to develop new biological parts, devices, and systems or to redesign existing systems found in nature. It is a branch of science that encompasses a broad range of methodologies from various disciplines, such as biochemistry, biotechnology, biomaterials, Materials science, material science/engineering, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, Model lipid bilayer, membrane science, biophysics, Biological engineering, chemical and biological engineering, Electrical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, control engineering and evolutionary biology. It includes designing and constructing BioBrick, biological modules, biological systems, and biological machines, or re-designing existing biological systems for useful purposes. Additionally, it is the branch of science that focuses on the ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regulation
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For example: * in government, typically regulation (or its plural) refers to the delegated legislation which is adopted to enforce primary legislation; including Land-use planning, land-use regulation * in economy: regulatory economics * in finance: financial regulation * in business, industry self-regulation occurs through self-regulatory organizations and trade associations which allow industries to set and enforce rules with less government involvement; and, * in biology, gene regulation and metabolic regulation allow living organisms to adapt to their environment and maintain homeostasis; * in psychology, self-regulation theory is the study of how individuals regulate their thoughts and behaviors to reach goals. Forms Regulation in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climate Engineering
Geoengineering (also known as climate engineering or climate intervention) is the deliberate large-scale interventions in the Earth’s climate system intended to counteract human-caused climate change. The term commonly encompasses two broad categories: large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation modification (SRM). CDR involves techniques to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and is generally considered a form of climate change mitigation. SRM aims to reduce global warming by reflecting a small portion of sunlight (solar radiation) away from Earth and back into space. Although historically grouped together, these approaches differ substantially in mechanisms, timelines, and risk profiles, and are now typically discussed separately.IPCC (2022Chapter 1: Introduction and FramingiClimate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Cambridge Unive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Et Cetera
''Et cetera'' (, ), abbreviated to ''etc.'', ''et cet.'', ''&c.'' or ''&c'', is a Latin expression that is used in English to mean "and all the rest". "&" is a ligature of "et." Translated literally from Latin, can mean , while can mean ; thus, the expression translates to . ''Et cetera'' is a calque (loanword/phrase) of the Koine Greek () meaning 'and the other things'. The typical Modern Greek form is (), 'and the remainder'. Spelling and usage The one-word spelling ''etcetera'' appears in some dictionaries. The abbreviated form ''&c.'' or ''&c'' is still occasionally used—the ampersand ⟨&⟩, derives from a ligature of . The phrase ''et cetera'' is often used to denote the logical continuation of some sort of series of descriptions. For example, in the following expression: We will need a lot of bread: wheat, granary, wholemeal, etc. on our menu. In this case of a use at the end of a list without conjunction, a comma is typically written in front of the phras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonprofit Organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or social benefit, as opposed to an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a Profit (accounting), profit for its owners. A nonprofit organization is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. Depending on the local laws, charities are regularly organized as non-profits. A host of organizations may be non-profit, including some political organizations, schools, hospitals, business associations, churches, foundations, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be Tax exemption, tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an enti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farmers' Rights
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (also known as ITPGRFA, International Seed Treaty or Plant Treaty) is a comprehensive international agreement in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims at guaranteeing food security through the conservation, exchange and sustainable use of the world's plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), the fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from its use, as well as the recognition of farmers' rights. It was signed in 2001 in Madrid, and entered into force on 29 June 2004. Main features Participating countries There are 153 contracting parties to the Plant Treaty (152 Member States and 1 intergovernmental organization, the European Union) as of July 2024. Farmers' rights The treaty recognises ''farmers' rights'', subject to national laws to: a) the protection of traditional knowledge relevant to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; b) the right to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing properties of matter. This definition of nanotechnology includes all types of research and technologies that deal with these special properties. It is common to see the plural form "nanotechnologies" as well as "nanoscale technologies" to refer to research and applications whose common trait is scale. An earlier understanding of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal of precisely manipulating atoms and molecules for fabricating macroscale products, now referred to as molecular nanotechnology. Nanotechnology defined by scale includes fields of science such as surface science, organic chemistry, molecular biology, semiconductor physics, energy storage, engineering, microfabrication, and molecular engineering. The associated rese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terminator Technology
Genetic use restriction technology (GURT), also known as terminator technology or suicide seeds, is designed to restrict access to "genetic materials and their associated phenotypic traits." The technology works by activating (or deactivating) specific genes using a controlled stimulus in order to cause second generation seeds to be either infertile or to not have one or more of the desired traits of the first generation plant. GURTs can be used by agricultural firms to enhance protection of their innovations in genetically modified organisms by making it impossible for farmers to reproduce the desired traits on their own. Another possible use is to prevent the escape of genes from genetically modified organisms into the surrounding environment. Patent applications related to a biological switch mechanism emerged in the early 1990's by companies such as DuPont and Zeneca (today Syngenta). Though the original GURT technology named "Technology Protection System" or "TPS" was devel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Life Sciences
This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the other being physical science, which is concerned with non-living matter. Biology is the overall natural science that studies life, with the other life sciences as its sub-disciplines. Some life sciences focus on a specific type of organism. For example, zoology is the study of animals, while botany is the study of plants. Other life sciences focus on aspects common to all or many life forms, such as anatomy and genetics. Some focus on the micro-scale (e.g. molecular biology, biochemistry) other on larger scales (e.g. cytology, immunology, ethology, pharmacy, ecology). Another major branch of life sciences involves understanding the mindneuroscience. Life sciences discoveries are helpful in improving the quality and standard of life a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biopiracy
Biopiracy (also known as scientific colonialism ) is the unauthorized appropriation of knowledge and genetic resources of farming and indigenous communities by individuals or institutions seeking exclusive monopoly control through patents or intellectual property. While bioprospecting is the act of exploring natural resources for undiscovered chemical compounds with medicinal or anti-microbial properties, commercial success from bioprospecting leads to the company's attempt at protecting their intellectual property rights on indigenous medicinal plants, seeds, genetic resources, and traditional medicines. Moreover, if biological resources and traditional knowledge are taken from indigenous or marginalized groups, the commercialization of their natural resource can harm communities. Despite the medicinal and innovative benefits of bioprospecting and biochemical research, the expropriation of indigenous land for their genetic resources without fair compensation inevitably leads to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
