The label featured a rather ugly brown rock. (Silex is the type of soil found in the Dagueneau vineyards.) "It is kind of ugly, " I admitted.

WSJ: Bryan Ferry, Drinking Wine With Lettie Teague

To encourage such developments the project's partners are trying to identify how the potency of herbs varies with exposure to the sun, the type of soil in which they are grown, and when and how they are harvested.

ECONOMIST: India is testing its traditional medicines

The satellite images picked out the right type of afforested land, and topography, which, when combined with other data on soil types, rainfall, and temperature, produced a clear "Loa Loa map" of several African countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

BBC: Danger worms tracked from space