Dr Collins estimates that 90% of these human symbionts cannot be cultured by normal laboratory methods.

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Autar Mattoo and his colleagues at the American Department of Agriculture's Vegetable Laboratory have been comparing mulching methods for tomato crops.

ECONOMIST: Genetic technology supports sustainable farming

But it is odd, at first sight, that genetic modification in a laboratory should weaken a plant any more than traditional breeding methods do.

ECONOMIST: Genetically modified weaklings | The

The project got the attention of the food-service industry, which is looking for testing methods that are less expensive and time-consuming than taste-testing or laboratory work.

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"His testing laboratory consists of a series of software and hardware products, but the connection and communication methods, as well as ways of exploitation, are absolutely the same as they would be in an actual real-world scenario, " analysts at Help Net Security wrote in a blog post.

CNN: Hacker says phone app could hijack plane