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Spraying olive trees with a natural product from sugar beet has successfully stopped some varieties of olive trees in the South Island being knocked by frosts.
Alex Houliston, head of science at Christchurch Girls' High School, took a year off teaching high school to study the frost problem in his own orchard.
Some olive orchards have suffered severe damage when trees four or five years old have been hit by a series of 13degC frosts in recent years.
Mr Houliston sprayed some of his trees with glycine betaine, which is extracted from sugar beet as a by-product of sugar production.
He had heard it could protect plants from metabolic inactivation during environmental stresses -- water deficit, high soil salinity and extreme temperatures such as frost, by changing the speed at which water passed throught the plant's cells.
"We were delighted to find that this product significantly reduced frost damage to my trees," said Mr Houliston who was awarded a technology teaching fellowship at Lincoln University and worked with researchers, Leo Vanhanen and Associate Professor Geoffrey Savage.
It was the first time glycine betaine had been scientifically trialled on New Zealand olives, and was sprayed on trees six times while the olives were ripening.
Both the cultivars used (barnea and manzillo) were protected by the spray, barnea most successfully.
From http://www.agriculture-supplier.com/ agriculture-supplier

The California Assembly has rejected a measure that would have banned the controversial chemical bisphenol A from baby bottles. Supporters say lawmakers missed a golden opportunity to protect young children. KPBS Reporter Kenny Goldberg has more.
The chemical, known as BPA, is found in baby bottles, can liners, and food containers. It can leech into liquids and foods.
The measure would have banned it in products designed for children under the age of three.
The chemical industry says BPA has a long history of safe use.
Ansje Miller is with the non-profit Center for Environmental Health.
Ansje Miller: Well, there's 130 studies out there that show otherwise, that there's a staggering number of health effects affiliated with BPA exposures.
A government report says there is some concern for neural and behavioral effects of BPA in fetuses and infants.
A number of other states are considering banning the chemical.


From http://www.chemical-suppliers-china.com/ chemical-suppliers

13 August 2008 - We have seen several Toshiba mobile phones with mixed results recently. How does the Portégé G910, a full QWERTY offering, fare? We go mobile to find out. From the outside that design looks somewhat unusual, a grey face with a black spine, looking like a cigarette case from an early Bond movie. On the front you’ll find a small two-line display that will give you details of the phone’s status – battery life, etc, as well as details of incoming calls. It also pairs up with the four-way control beneath which give basic access to features, for example, contacts. You’ll also find the standard call accept and reject buttons here. Flip the device over and you’ll find most of the rear dominated by the battery cover, which is rather flimsy and won’t stand repeated removal too much. There is also the 2-megapixel camera, which comes with an illuminator-type flash. Open the device up and you are faced with a decent sized QWERTY keyboard, which is actually very nice to use, except for one irritating feature that we found in the G710: the inability to shift characters by pressing and holding a key. This means that if you want the "-" on the "F" key, you have to press the green spot to enter the alternative characters. Press and hold would only produce "ffffffff". A minor point, but one that can really slow down text input. The top half of the device is dominated by the 3-inch, 800 x 480, LCD display, which is nice and crisp. The hinge design means you can sit this like a tiny laptop and use the keyboard to bash out some emails, or browse the Internet whilst on the move. The downside of that hinge design is that it can be difficult to get to the screen (although you can do most things from the keyboard). Also, the hinge doesn’t fold flat, or allow it to be used like a tablet, which is a little restrictive. There is a stylus included which is as good as useless – it is so thin it almost bends at every screen press and is difficult to hold – replacement should not be too much of an issue, but whether it will fit in the hole is a different matter. Down the side of the screen you’ll find various shortcut options, contacts, calendar, media player and so on. At first attempt we thought they weren’t working, as they need a firm press to launch the service you want. All these buttons are customisable, so you can swap-out Internet Exploder for Opera and so on as you wish, which makes them much more practical for everyday use. Of course, the operating system here is Windows Mobile 6, so this is really pitched at business road warriors who can sync with the office and then get going. There is nothing on top of Windows Mobile, no shell to improve the user experience, like you’ll find in HTC devices. For those looking to get some work done it also features the full Office Mobile programmes, so you can create documents on the move. The tech specs also reflect the business focus: you’ll find heaps of connectivity, including Wi-Fi, and not just 3G, but the HSDPA variety, making this a good device for data on the move. You’ll also find Bluetooth as you’d expect.
From http://www.chinatopsupplier.com/ chinatopsupplier