Times Colonist from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • 23

TIMES COLONIST timescolonist.com LIFE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012 C3 Scientists develop salt-tolerant, high-yield wheat TAN EE LYN Reuters HONG KONG Scientists in Australia have crossed a commercial variety of wheat with an ancient species, producing a hardy, high-yielding plant that is tolerant of salty soil. The researchers, who published their work this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology, hope the new strain will help address food shortages in arid and semi-arid places where farmers struggle with high salinity in the soil. "This is the first time that a genetic variation that has been lost in plants through domestication has been reclaimed from a wild relative and put back into the plant," said lead researcher Matthew Gilli-ham of the University of Adelaide's School of Agriculture. The researchers used a gene believed to be responsible for controlling the salt content in plants and that was isolated more than 10 years ago from an ancient wheat variety. The gene makes a protein that is present in the roots of wheat and helps block salt from travelling up the plant, Gilliham said in a telephone interview.

Salt lowers yields and eventually kills the plant. "When plants grow in salty conditions, the enzymes in the plants don't work very well anymore," Gilliham said. "We crossed the gene into modern, commercially grown wheat. It confers salinity tolerance by withdrawing the salts from the xylem, retaining them in the roots and stopping them getting up the shoots where the salt damages the plant and stops it from pho-tosynthesizing," he explained. The researchers grew the new, improved wheat variety in soil with high salt content and found that it produced yields up to 25 per cent more than strains without the ancient gene.

"People will see how it works maybe in five years it will benefit other varieties of wheat," Gilliham said. He said farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, the United States and Russia may also benefit from the modified wheat. MONITOR Sunday in the Times Colonist Today's and eat the day to ponder Pi circular fruit dessert I i COT 1 San Francisco physicist Larry Shaw held his first Pi Day march went mainstream in 2009, when the U.S. officially recognized Summer Alaska Cruise Denali Rail Tour nights Land 7 night. Cruise.

Panama Canal Sail from Ft. Lauderdale Victoria. PRINCESS Atlantic Coast 10 Nights trom Air Included 19 Nights to rrom us $1899 CRUISES Air Included 16 Nights from Air Included 48 Nights from Air Included 34 Nights from Air Included Sail from Quebec City including Portland, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Miami, Key West ending in Tampa. cept related to circles also denoted by the Greek letter pi. Just to keep things fresh.

The lecture will be followed by an offering of berry pies. A normal Pi Day celebration would consist of eating pie and talking about pi. But since March 14 is also Albert Einstein's birthday, you could use the famed physicist's breakthrough theories of relativity and special relativity and the overturning of Newtonian physics as a way to start the conversation. Pi Day went mainstream in 2009, when the United States House of Representatives officially recognized March 14 as Pi Day. While Pi Day has not yet been declared a provincial statutory holiday in B.C., Premier Christy Clark should seriously consider it.

According to Wikipedia, at 9:26:53 on Pi Day 2015, the date will be 31415 at 9:26:53, corresponding to 3.141592653, the value of pi calculated to nine decimal places. Surely a global celebration will ensue. South America Circumnavigation Sail from Los Angeles to New York. jfTcnmWitf Australia "Yi. 4..

ALLEN MclNNIS, POSTMEDIA NEWS and pie party in 1988. It March 14 as Pi Day. butter with fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then sift in the sugar. Add the lemon rind, egg yolk and milk, and mix. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead briefly.

Wrap in plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Roll out two-thirds of the dough to a thickness of half a centimetre and use it to line the base and side of the pan. To make the filling, place the fruit in a pan with the sugar and let simmer, stirring frequently, for five minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Spoon the fruit into the pastry shell.

Roll out the remaining pie dough to cover the pie. Trim and crimp round the edge, then make 2 small slits in the top and decorate with 2 leaf shapes cut out from the dough trimmings. Brush with a little milk and bake for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Serve warm or cooled. Serves 8.

Ti rrcl tirt tSt I Your Island four Nwspaser. iS "If i Circumnavigation March 14 widely observed by math and pie enthusiasts alike RANDY SHORE Postmedia News Any time is a good time for pie. Fabienne, Pulp Fiction You could use pi to calculate the two-dimensional area of your pie plate, but a more complex series of calculations is required to determine its volume. Possibly even calculus. I wouldn't know.

What I do know is that March 14 is emerging from obscure academic origins to become a date that is widely observed by pie enthusiasts as the perfect excuse for a mathematics and circular-dessert party known as Pi Day. March 14 was chosen because its numerical expression 314 bears a resemblance to the value for pi calculated to two decimal places, 3.14. (Don't confuse this important date with Pi Approximation Day on July 22, a date that bears a resemblance to the expression of pi as a fraction, 227.) Since San Francisco physicist Larry Shaw held his first Pi Day march and pie party in 1988, the celebration has spread across North America, mainly on university campuses. Engineering students at Simon Fraser University have co-opted Pi Day to hold a fundraiser with a country-fair feel at the university's Surrey campus. Engineers Without Borders members and professors volunteer to be pelted with whipped cream pies to raise money for their work in Africa.

On the Burnaby campus today, math professor Nils Bruin will deliver the annual Pi Day lecture entitled "The Other Pi" on a separate but related mathematical con- RECIPES Smoothies From Page CI Place all ingredients in a blender. Pulse until very smooth. Taste and adjust as needed. Pour into glasses and serve. Eric's options: The sour cherries I used in this recipe were packed in very light syrup and sold at most supermarkets.

The brand used was Gourmet Gallery. I drained them well before using. You could also use pitted frozen (thawed) or fresh (available in summer) sour cherries. If you do, you may want to add extra honey, as they will be even tarter than those packed in light syrup. Instead of Greek-style yogurt, you could also use an equal amount of soft tofu in this recipe.

Kale, Pear and Cucumber Smoothies This smoothie has an eyecatching spring-green colour and refreshing flavour. Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: None Makes: 2 (about 1 cup each) servings 1 cup chopped fresh kale (just 'feafy parts; no tough rif Sail rt from Sydney.y A 1 Three Berry Pie This recipe is from the recently released Enten-mann's Big Book of Baking, which comprises 140 recipes for everything from doughnuts and danishes to party cakes and, of course, pies. Pie crust: 1 12 (375 mL) cups all-purpose flour 14 cup (60 mL) ground hazelnuts 12 cup (125 mL) butter, softened 13 cup (80 mL) sugar Finely grated rind of 1 lemon 1 egg yolk, beaten 3 Tbsp (45 mL) whole milk Filling: 1 12 cups (375 mL) blueberries 1 12 cups (375 mL) raspberries 1 12 cups (375 mL) blackberries 3 Tbsp (45 mL) sugar 2 Tbsp (30 mL) whole milk Preheat oven to 375 (180 C). Grease a 9-inch pie pan with butter. To make the pie crust, sift the flour into a bowl, then add the hazelnuts.

Rub in the Place all ingredients in a blender. Pulse until very smooth. Taste and adjust as needed. Pour into glasses and serve. Note: Pear juice is sold at some supermarkets, in the aisle bottled and packages juices are sold.

If you can't find it, you could use unsweetened ajple juice in this recipe. Exclusively at UHEU1H0 1-877-417-2077 Vision Cruisa Toll free Monday to Friday BC Rttry R103S4O793 Included air Is fromto Vancouver. Restriction apply. All rates an par person In USD, double occupancy and subject to availability. Government fees are additional.

pack healthy punch A lupjwiwi i (iHSaifiiJjnli! -y i ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST A tropical fruit smoothie with almond and ginger provides potassium, fibre and vitamins B-6, A and vy-jrf i.y i V.UIIIC31 11,1 I I r. from 1 II I I IKI A PAUL DESTROOPER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 1 cup cubed English cucumber (about 14 to 13 of a cucumber, depending on size) 1 medium ripe pear, peeled, cored and sliced 12 cup unsweetened pear juice (see Note) 1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice 1 Tbsp honey, or to taste (optional) 2 to 3 ice cubes Simply email us your name and day phone number to funandgamestimescolonist.com with "Ballet Victoria" in the subject line, or drop your entry off at the Times Colonist, 2621 Douglas St Contest opens March 10, 2012 and closes March 14. 2012 at noon. Winner(s) names will be published in the Times Colonist on March 15. 2012.

No purchase necessary. The odds of winning are dependent upon the number of participants. The contest is open to all residents of British Columbia of the age of maiority. One entry per person per day. Winners must correctly answer a skill-testing Question.

Five (5) winners receives two (2) tickets to the March 16 performance of the Four Seasons Vivaldi West Coast at the McPherson Playhouse. show No cash value Prize must be accepted as awarded. Full contest rules are available at the Times Colonist front jk, open Monday through Friday 8 30 a m. 5:00 p.m..