Study those two seedlings in the headline closely. What’s the difference? Outwardly, they appear identical. In fact, they are. I copied and pasted the second one from the first one. I hit Control+⌘+Space to bring up the emoji keyboard and find the seedling. The 2nd one was just ⌘+C and ⌘+V. They’re digital 0’s and 1’s … More Spot the difference between 🌱 and 🌱
Climate change is a problem humanity is currently causing and facing. Along with the rest of life on Earth, including plants. 2017 was one of the hottest years on record. The arctic is our early warning of a potential future. Policy changes and action on climate are fundamentally selfish – it will maintain the conditions … More Telling stories of plants in a world of unchecked climate change.
atI had the pleasure of attending Sci Comm Camp for a 2nd year. It made me think about communicating science generally, but also how to better relate plant science specifically. Amongst the sweet smell of false pepper trees (Schinus molle, Anacardiaceae) and stands of white bark-shedding eucalyptus trees (Eucalyptus sp., Myrtaceae), 80 or so science … More Plant the seeds of curiosity: Dispatch from Sci Comm Camp 2017
The mighty oak tree is an invader from the North, like the sometimes fearsome Vikings commemorated in Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’. North American oaks trees evolved first in the temperate zone, diversified into red and white oak groups, and then moved south into Mexico. There, oak species diversified further, with more than 150 extant species … More The White & Red Oaks From the North
Give up on that riddle? Well, you’re right in thinking there’s not a lot in common between them. All life is connected, however, some is just further apart on the evolutionary bush than others. One is an animal, one is a plant. A lot of evolution and an endosymbiont (the chloroplast plants have that animals … More How is a Naked Mole Rat Like a Plant?
The professor that got me into plant biology, taught me plant physiology, and in a many ways helped me develop my technical writing ability is retiring this year. Gary Tallman, PhD is retiring from being the Taul Watanabe endowed Professor of Biology at Willamette University in Salem, OR, but has had a long career in … More Guard Cells Tolerating Heat
Letter to a farmer from a plant scientist sharing values we share and why scientists say the world is warming up and how that links to local experiences. … More To a Farmer From a Plant Scientist
Coffea arabica Genome We now know the genes of good coffee. The Coffea arabica (Arabica coffee) genome was released this month, announced at the annual Plant and Animal Genome conference XXV. Arabica coffee is consdiered better quality and is 70% of the world’s coffee. Several years ago, the simpler genome of Coffea canephora was sequenced (a.k.a. … More Inside The Coffee Bean
This is a guest post I wrote for the All Under One Leaf Blog for the UK Plant Sciences Federation on 10/7/2016. It is reposted here with permission. Seeds for The Future This is a story where people died to preserve plants for future generations. Nikolai Vavilov (1887-1943) is the scientist at the center of … More Securing the Future of Plants for All
I had the pleasure of attending Sci Comm Camp in Malibu, CA organized by Sarah Keartes, Cara Santa Maria, and Jason Goldman. There is much more to say, but this post tries to weave together the messages I took away from the experience, plus some pictures, tweets, and hopefully, some substantive answers as to what … More Take Aways From Sci Comm Camp
The Quiet Branches 