No abstract

The objective of this research was to determine the effect on soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) yields of N added at different rates by different times and methods of application, as direct and residual, and as inorganic and organic sources. A number of studies were conducted over a period of several years at 10 field locations in Illinois. Nitrogen at rates up to 360 kg/ha added for corn (Zea mays L.) the preceding year had no effect on soybean yields. Neither were soybean yields increased by organic sources of N such as manure or alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), or by combinations of organic and inorganic sources. Fertilizer N added for soybean as plow‐down, disked‐in, and side‐dressed at early flowering and at pod filling did not increase yields. Nitrogen added for soybeans planted on four dates did not increase yields. High rates of N (1800 and 1440 kg/ha), broadcast and disked‐in in the spring, decreased yield due to germination and seedling injury. Considering all the studies, yields were significantly increased in only 3 out of 133 instances and these occurred at high, uneconomical rates of N fertilizer. It is concluded that N available to the plant is not the growth factor that presently limits soybean yields in Illinois.

No abstract

No abstract

I discuss the moral significance of artificial life within synthetic biology via a discussion of Douglas, Powell and Savulescu's paper 'Is the creation of artificial life morally significant'. I argue that the definitions of 'artificial life' and of 'moral significance' are too narrow. Douglas, Powell and Savulescu's definition of artificial life does not capture all core projects of synthetic biology or the ethical concerns that have been voiced, and their definition of moral significance fails to take into account the possibility that creating artificial life is conditionally acceptable. Finally, I show how several important objections to synthetic biology are plausibly understood as arguing that creating artificial life in a wide sense is only conditionally acceptable.