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MELiSSA delivers AstroPlant
We have an interest in plant biology in space here on the blog, so naturally we’re excited about MELiSSA’s AstroPlant desktop greenhouse. Normally we’
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JD Hooker Bicentenary
It’s conference season, and we’re starting to visit conferences from the blog. Friday was the JD Hooker Bicentennial Meeting at the Royal Botanic Gardens
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TipTracker: automatic tracking of diverse moving objects
We study plant roots by observing their developmental stages, physiological conditions and their cell biology. The advent of fluorescent proteins and the power of confocal microscopy
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Botanical Interest in ‘No Such Thing as a Fish’
One of my favorite podcasts is ‘No Such Thing as a Fish‘ (NSTaaF) from the QI elves (writers). Each week, the four co-hosts bring a
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Some plant tissues move like animal muscles but long after death
Even being dead doesn’t stop a scarious bract from protecting its florets. It still works even after a serious mechanical damage, as long as at least a strip, a few cell layers thick, remains intact.
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Why we shouldn’t take seeds for granted
Seeds are the main resource for growing plants to restore degraded areas. But are there enough seeds of wild species to meet the global demand?
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How you can use online herbaria to learn about plants
As part of Plant Facts Week (#PlantFactsWeek🌱) we present this post about online herbaria and the great things you can learn about plants and get involved
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Amborella trichopoda helps reveal features of the first flowering plants
It’s difficult to peer into the past to see the first flowering plant, but Charlie Scutt shows how an ancestor in the modern-era provides some clues as to what it looked like.
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Black-grass: the farmer’s nemesis
Visit an arable farm in England, particularly in its central and Southern parts, and ask the farmer what their number one problem is on their farm. They will most likely tell you it is black-grass.
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Facts, alternative facts and ‘Plant Facts Week’
For Joe Friday, it was enough to ask for “just the facts, ma’am.”* But do the facts help science communication?
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Launching ‘Botany Live’: a global online event to celebrate ‘Fascination of Plants Day 2017’
What do you think of when you think of plants?
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When seas rise rapidly
We think of sea-level rise as a long-term threat, but sometimes the change is catastrophically quick, and it’s the recovery that is long-term.