Showing 51 - 60 of 128
Surviving the desert
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 25/09/2016
» In last week's Green Fingers, I mentioned that most plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen during the day but sansevierias do just the opposite: They purify and freshen the air at night while we are asleep. How do they do it?
Clearing the air
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 18/09/2016
» I posted a photo of a plant on Facebook and was pleased with the interest that it aroused among some friends. "What is it?" several asked. "Is it aloe vera? Is it malunggay [maroom in Thai]?"
From salt to solar
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 14/09/2016
» If this year's severe drought returns next dry season, Uncle Wai Rodtayoy and other salt farmers in tambon Koek Kharm of Samut Sakhon, known as the country's largest sea-salt-farming area, will see mounting debts.
Nurturing fruits of your labour
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 11/09/2016
» Many gardeners could not get their plants to bloom, much less bear fruit. Reader Murray Thomas' problem is just the opposite. His potted lime tree is exploding with fruit and more flowers are on the way. "As many as 15 small fruit on a single small branch," he wrote. "The tree is about 1.5 metres tall.
Banana split
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 17/08/2016
» High on the list of fruits Thais cannot live without is kluai namwa, or cultivated banana, a tropical strand only grown in South and Southeast Asia. The cultivated banana has long been an affordable, ubiquitous food staple for Thais, the same way apples are for Westerners.
Embracing bee season
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 31/07/2016
» I was standing on the veranda of our country home when I noticed a swarm of little white butterflies milling around the canopy of a rainbow eucalyptus. The tree was in bloom, and as I watched the butterflies fluttering from flower to flower, I could not help but marvel at the wonders of nature. Where did the butterflies come from? Other plants were in bloom as well, but why were they only attracted to this particularly tree? I had no doubt in my mind that the flowers were also pollinated by bees and other insects, but why were they visited by only one kind of butterfly?
Words behaving badly
Guru, Jarupat Buranastidporn, Published on 15/07/2016
» If the politicians and people of power here do anything well, it's finding the right euphemisms to spin "bad" terms into, well, "not so bad" terms.
Are dietary supplements safe?
Life, Arusa Pisuthipan, Published on 05/07/2016
» The Thai tropical plant ma mui, or Mucuna pruriens, was on the public radar last year after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urged farmers to grow them instead of rice to cope with drought. The herb recently made newspaper headline again when a 21-year-old woman in the southern province of Trang was found dead earlier this month after taking four capsules of ma mui supplements -- samples she received after becoming a member of a direct-sale business selling the supplement product.
Seizing energy
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 29/06/2016
» 'What if we can capture the sun and put it in a box?" Park Jaeyoung, an astrophysicist who once worked at the nuclear research centre Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US, told students and guests at Khon Kaen University, his eyes reflecting his enthusiasm as passion lit up the room.
Exploring the world garden
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 05/06/2016
» During my visit to the Philippines two months ago, a good friend of mine gave me a bag of pistachio nuts which her sister, Pin, had sent her from the US. Pin and her family live in Delano, California, and she regularly sends food packages that includes pistachio nuts, almonds, dates and raisins to her sister in the Philippines.