Category: Science

More than 60 per cent of the world population will live in urban areas by 2050 and many of the large cities are in Asia. Rapid urbanisation is an inevitable part of societal evolution and this is accompanied by an unprecedented pressure on cities to feed their residents. There is also a need to cater to the increasing expectation by customers of the availability of higher quality fresh produce with added health and nutritional benefits. These factors, and the recent lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, tell us that our future food supply will face periodic challenges if we stick to the old ways of securing food, namely, growing crops in big countries with large land areas and importing the products. Our policies will thus need to be modified.

 

Developing an urban farming research thrust

 

Therefore, in the face of impending climate change and a predicted population increase, coupled with the potential disruptions caused by future pandemics and natural calamities, we will need to find innovative ways to grow crop plants and ensure adequate food supply in the coming decades. Human societies have exhibited remarkable adaptations by continually developing newer farming technologies over the past several centuries.

 

The idea of producing some food plants under controlled environments in vertical indoor farms is one such novel concept. There are clear advantages to this approach, including avoiding the uncertainties associated with outdoor farming and minimising the water used for agriculture. Furthermore, by growing plants at high density and in multiple tiers, this farming technology will have a low environmental footprint. However, the technology is currently expensive and requires strategies to enhance its productivity and profitability.

 

We recognise the urgent need to develop science-based solutions and technological innovations to shape the future of indoor farming. The specific requirements of indoor farming mean that we cannot merely adopt the traditional farming methods. Novel solutions that integrate multiple disciplines need to be developed, requiring multidisciplinary specialist teams to work together, as we plan to do at NUS.

 

We expect that any novel solutions will be adopted by the stakeholders (such as growers, food processors, distributors, retailers, consumers, and waste managers) as soon as they are developed. Such solutions will be relevant to Singapore and the regional urban centres where several start-up companies have emerged in recent years.

 

Strengthening our food security

 

For land-scarce cities and nations, the production of some food in local vertical indoor farms is clearly one of the mitigating strategies to overcome challenges to food security.

 

The NUS Research Centre on Sustainable Urban Farming (SUrF), which was officially launched in August 2022, aims to facilitate multidisciplinary research in the field of indoor urban farming. We will leverage on the wide spectrum of expertise at NUS to formulate sustainable and transformational science-based solutions for urban farming.

 

Besides the various aspects associated with the cultivation of food plants in indoor farms, we will also explore the production of novel biotech products (such as nutraceuticals and high-value proteins) via such ‘plant factories’. Integrating good environmental and farming practices to limit potential pollutants from the farms and indirectly promote public health is important for the long-term sustainability of indoor farming.

 

Principal Investigators (PIs) from the Faculties of Science, Engineering and School of Computing have initiated multidisciplinary research covering expertise in genomics and biochemistry of plants, microbiomes, food science and technology, materials and polymer science, data science and artificial intelligence (AI). More of such multidisciplinary teams that focus on improving plant performance in indoor farm conditions are expected to be established under the cross-boundary platform of SUrF.

 

This may involve selecting genetic materials and pinpointing optimal growth conditions through genome-editing, the control of microbiome and light wavelengths, phenomics and AI. The research teams will formulate technical plans for launching such flagship projects that will help in securing external research funding.

 

Efforts will also be made to coordinate the information flow regarding the various PI-driven research projects NUS is currently undertaking in this discipline so that the thematic effort will be better coordinated and projected to our industry partners.

 

Some examples of multidisciplinary research for urban farming at SUrF

 

The major scientific and technological gaps and challenges of indoor farming will help to shape our research plans.

 

This will include developing:

 

novel plant varieties using genome editing or genomic selection/molecular breeding techniques

integrated pre-harvest production system followed by post-harvest processing including wavelength-controlled LED systems

a detailed knowledge base of nutrients and nutraceuticals specific for indoor crops

beneficial microbial consortia to improve crops

optimal management solutions using novel, non-destructive sensors for plant metabolites & the environment, together with data science and AI

robotics for indoor farms

novel materials from farm waste streams

mitigation strategies for future/emerging microbial threats associated with innovative agricultural practices

These fundamental and multidisciplinary research areas cannot fit within the R&D scope of small or medium companies. Hence, the currently available solutions are generally unsatisfactory because they tend to merely assemble various off-the-shelf solutions. With integrated approaches that can be undertaken in a full-spectrum university such as NUS, we have the potential to develop disruptive solutions for the emerging urban farming industry and make impactful contributions for societal benefits.

 

Partnering with the various stakeholders

 

NUS PIs will continue to hold periodic discussions with Singapore-based agribusinesses that include both upstream producers of multiple large-scale agricultural products (such as RGE/APRIL, Indofood Agri, Olam, New Agri Seed) and downstream partners (such as Archisen, SinGrow, Kalera).

 

In addition to the various participating NUS labs, a new indoor farming facility will be ready for research use at the start of 2023 within the NUS Faculty of Science. This core research facility, managed by SUrF, will house equipment for plant phenotyping and facilitate various projects undertaken by our PIs and their industrial collaborators.

 

Through these strategies and the participation of NUS PIs with their diverse research expertise, SUrF is designed to address multidisciplinary challenges. Overall, we hope that our research efforts in urban farming will contribute towards maintaining a low environmental footprint while enhancing our food security and health in 2023 and beyond.

 

Source: National University of Singapore

China’s Shenzhen Energy Group has signed a long-term agreement with oil major BP to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG), aiming to lock in supplies with gas-fired power generation poised to surge in the world’s second-largest economy, Trend reports with reference to Reuters.

The agreement is Shenzhen Energy’s first long-term international LNG contract and its first long-term contract with BP Singapore, the Chinese company said in a statement on Friday.

The statement did not specify details of the agreement, including the duration of the contract.

“To meet the demand of Guangdong province and Shenzhen city for energy security and stability, Shenzhen Energy Group is making efforts to promote the construction of gas power plants,” it said.

“It is estimated that around 2024, as the gas power plants go into operation, the group’s total demand for natural gas will significantly rise.”

China’s LNG importers are widely expected this winter to avoid the spot market, where prices have risen sharply, relying instead on Russian supplies and long-term contracted volumes.

QatarEnergy has signed a 27-year deal to supply LNG to China’s Sinopec in the longest such agreement to date, as volatility drives buyers to seek long-term supplies.

 

Source: TREND News Agency

 

Tanzania’s Ministry of Tourism released a census this week showing the country’s elephant population has stabilized.

Tanzania’s elephants were among the hardest hit by poaching in Africa, with numbers dropping 60 percent between 2009 and 2014. But authorities say joint efforts with conservation groups and local communities have drastically reduced poaching and helped to attract tourist dollars.

Just under 20,000 elephants were recorded in a survey that covered about 90,000 square kilometers of the Katavi-Rukwa and Ruaha-Rungwa landscapes in western Tanzania, including parks, game reserves and other protected areas.

The government said the results confirm that the landscape remains the most important in East Africa in terms of elephant numbers and contains the largest population on the continent outside Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Ernest Mjingo, a managing director of the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, a department of the Ministry of Tourism, said the world would now see Tanzania as very serious about conservation and doing well at it. And if the world does see that, he said, it would be a credit to the government and would also increase revenue, because Tanzania will become a prime destination for tourists because of the animal population. He added that it could also become a U.N. World Heritage Site, since it would have species that would not be available in other places.

The report said poaching had dramatically decreased over the last few years.

In the last report, conducted in 2018, the ratio of elephant carcasses to live animals was 14 percent. Now, it’s just 1.4 percent, thanks to government and stakeholders’ efforts in strengthening wildlife protection.

Tourism experts such as Makubi Mabula see the results of the census as a good sign for Tanzania’s economic prospects.

“Honestly, the results show a green light toward the future of tourism in our country,” he said through a translator. ” … Many tourists come to see animals like elephants, lions, rhinos and others. So, with the elephant population stabilizing, the national income will increase. It really gives us the peace we tourist stakeholders need to believe that the tourism industry will grow fast.”

Along with elephants, the survey also confirmed that the populations of 25 other key mammal species in Tanzania have stabilized, including buffaloes, zebras, hartebeests, impalas and giraffes.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

 

The main challenges associated with existing lung cancer drugs are severe side effects and drug resistance. There is hence a constant need to explore new molecules for improving the survival rate and quality of life of lung cancer patients.

In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, black cardamom has been used in formulations to treat cancer and lung conditions. A team of researchers from the NUS Faculty of Science, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and NUS College of Design and Engineering studied the scientific basis behind this traditional medicinal practice and provided evidence of the cytotoxic effect of black cardamom on lung cancer cells. The research highlighted the spice as a source of potent bioactives, such as cardamonin and alpinetin, which could be used in the treatment or prevention of lung cancer. The study is the first to report the association of black cardamom extract with oxidative stress induction in lung cancer cells, and compare the spice’s effects on lung, breast and liver cancer cells.

The findings could potentially lead to the discovery of safe and effective new bioactives which can prevent or cure cancer formation. The research was first published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in December 2021.

Delving into the science behind Ayurveda

The research provides the verification of ethnomedical uses of black cardamom for its effect on lung-related conditions. Black cardamom is typically used in Asian households in rice preparations, curries and stews either as a whole spice or in powdered form. The spice is also prescribed in Indian Ayurvedic medicine in powder form where it is used for conditions such as cough, lung congestion, pulmonary tuberculosis, and throat diseases. In addition, black cardamom has been used in medicine formulations for cancer patients in some rural and tribal cultures in India.

In the NUS study, black cardamom fruits were powdered and sequentially extracted with five types of solvents, including organic solvents and water. This allowed the researchers to evaluate the best solvents to extract the most potent actives in the fruit. The various types of black cardamom extracts were then tested for their cytotoxicity against several types of cancer cells. These included cancer cells from the lung, liver and breast. Among the three types of cells, lung cancer cells were least likely to survive when tested with the black cardamom extracts.

“The study lays the foundation for further study on whether consuming black cardamom can prevent, or help as a therapeutic for, lung cancer. Previous research papers on black cardamom’s effects on cancer were preliminary and did not link research findings with the use of black cardamom in traditional medicine. There was also not enough screening done using different cancer cells to understand which cancer cells were most responsive to black cardamom extracts,” said Pooja Makhija, a doctoral student from the Department of Chemistry at NUS Faculty of Science.

The sequential extraction method using hexane followed by dichloromethane produced a black cardamom extract that was most effective against lung cancer cells. Dichloromethane extract treated cells were found to be killed mainly by apoptotic pathway where the measure of live cells, dropped to less than an average of about 20 percent after 48 hours of contact with the black cardamom extracted using dichloromethane. Cell death was caused by apoptosis with cells displaying morphological changes, such as shape distortion and shrinkage, increased oxidative stress, and a failure in DNA damage repair.

After running the black cardamom extract though liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, the researchers linked the presence of two well-researched bioactives, cardamonin and alpinetin, to the cytotoxic potential of black cardamom.

“With black cardamom being commonly used as an important spice in cooking, further in-depth investigation about its impact on lung cancer progression in the pre-clinical models can provide strong evidence in support of the “food as medicine” philosophy of Hippocrates that has been neglected to great extent in the present day,” said Associate Professor Gautam Sethi from the Department of Pharmacology at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, who was a collaborator for the research.

Potential applications for cancer research

“The black cardamom extract used in the study can potentially be used to isolate and identify more novel chemical compounds that can be effective against cancer cells. These new actives could then undergo cellular, pre-clinical and clinical testing for further development into drugs for treating cancer,” said co-principal investigator Adjunct Associate Professor Bert Grobben from Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management at the NUS College Design of Engineering.

Source: National University of Singapore(HighLights)

As the future of work continues to evolve, and we move towards the future economy, the need to upskill, reskill, and grow one’s knowledge base to remain relevant in the workplace is no longer optional, but an imperative. This was the resounding message by over 30 experts, industry leaders and academics at NUS’ inaugural Lifelong Learning Festival (LLF) 2022, held on 19 July at the Shaw Foundation Alumni House on Kent Ridge campus.

Organised by the NUS School of Continuing and Lifelong Education (SCALE), the Festival was part of the ongoing SkillsFuture Singapore Festival, aimed at promoting and supporting lifelong learning. With both in-person and online sessions, the NUS LLF was a nod to the hybrid nature of the future workplace, with over 2,500 participants attending the various masterclasses, panel discussions and presentations.

Addressing about 220 guests in person, Minister for Education Mr Chan Chun Sing called on Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) like NUS to scale and expand their continuing education offerings to meet the needs of adult learners, so as to keep pace with rapid industry transformation and disruption. He also reiterated that IHLs and industry must work closely together to help Singapore’s workers upskill and reskill at scale.

“We will need our industries, trade associations and professional bodies to articulate and aggregate their demand for new skills for us to activate the supply of new training by our institutions, including our Autonomous Universities,” said Mr Chan.

“We also need to shorten the cycle from when demand is aggregated to when the supply is activated, and the training is completed. And in today’s fast-paced world, this loop needs to be completed in months, and not years.”

Forging a strong nexus with industry

NUS continues to work closely with industry partners to facilitate a national culture of lifelong learning, with NUS LLF 2022 seeing strong participation from the University’s long-time industry partners, especially those involved in NUS’ flagship All-You-Can-Learn (AYCL) Initiative. Through AYCL, NUS has been working closely with companies to design courses specific to their employees’ learning and corporate training needs, spanning areas as diverse as satellite technology, coastal engineering, Internet-of-Things, and additive manufacturing.

Training resources for these courses are drawn from the offerings of NUS’ colleges, faculties and schools, and range from workshops to modular courses. Since 2018, NUS has trained close to 3,400 participants from various organisations, including DSO National Laboratories and United Overseas Bank (UOB).

Speaking at the ‘FutureWork’ panel discussion at the Festival, UOB Managing Director and Head of Group Human Resources, Mr Dean Tong, emphasised that it is crucial for all organisations to invest in skills development, especially in-demand skill sets like data analytics, so as to attract and retain the best talent. Fellow panelists Professor Fong Kok Yong, Singhealth’s Deputy Group Chief Executive (Medical and Clinical Services), and Mr Frank Koo, LinkedIn’s Head of Talent and Learning Solutions in Asia, agreed that employees’ expectations have shifted, with many making the decision to leave companies that fail to provide them with adequate opportunities for growth, learning and development.

Maintaining a lifelong relationship with alumni

Addressing the many NUS alumni in the audience, Professor Ho Teck Hua, NUS Senior Deputy President and Provost, gave a live demonstration and walk-through of the newly-enhanced NUS Career+ mobile app jointly developed by NUS and JobTech. He highlighted key components in the NUS Career+ app, an AI-powered learning and career development tool exclusively available to NUS students and its over 330,000 alumni. These include settings which allow users to pick their desired job roles based on their career aspirations; a function that identifies, through trawling millions of job postings online, the relevant skills required for the user’s desired job, as well as gaps in competencies; and finally, course recommendations from various IHLs for upskilling or reskilling that are bespoke to users’ skill gaps.

Launch of new lifelong learning initiatives

During the Festival, NUS also launched new initiatives to help more individuals – alumni and non-alumni alike – fulfill their lifelong learning needs.

These include an automatic 10% tuition fee rebate – 15% for NUS alumni – for every Singaporean and Permanent Resident, applicable for enrolment to nearly 70 Masters by Coursework programmes at the University which are not subsidised by the government.

NUS will also increase the number of places for learners to be admitted to the University’s existing slate of Graduate Certificate programmes, and roll out new Graduate Certificate courses to meet increasing demand. The Graduate Certificate, which is more bite-sized than a Master’s programme, allows learners to acquire state-of-the-art, in-demand knowledge and skills for upskilling and reskilling. All learners who excel in Graduate Certificate programmes will be considered for admission into associated Master’s programmes. These include highly sought-after programmes like the Master of Science in Digital Financial Technology and the Master of Science in Industry 4.0.

Encouraging participants to tap on these new initiatives, NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye said, “At NUS, we desire for our learners to rise up to the challenges and ride the opportunities that this fourth industrial revolution offers. This is why, back in 2018, NUS made a pivotal shift to integrate lifelong learning into our education model and mind set… For our alumni and the Singapore workforce, NUS offers a range of courses to empower adult learners to fulfil their career aspirations, make job pivots into emerging areas, or pursue new interests and avenues.”

News about these initiatives were well-received by NUS alumni. Ms Pavita Puansari (Class of 2022), an operations executive who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Technology in Industrial and Management Engineering, said, “With the tuition fee rebates, NUS has addressed a concern of many who intend to pursue postgraduate studies, myself included – the financial impact and potential return on investment in upgrading ourselves. These new initiatives are beneficial and will give many an extra push to pursue further studies.”

Source: National University of Singapore(HighLights)