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 🌱
Recently, Evolutionary biology PhD candidate and science communicator Sally LePage discovered that 10 of 12 water companies in the UK use divining rods. It was picked up by The Guardian amongst other places. Phantom Sense Divining rods, or dowsing objects, do not work. They are no better than chance and Le Page cites the evidence … More Finding water.
The Google Doodle on July 10 honored Eva Ekeblad’s 293rd birthday. Her story is illustrative of how new foods get adopted and spread, in this case, the potato in Europe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kUrtGFjKxo Countess Eva Ekeblad, at 22, became a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (founded 1739 and since the late 19th century awarders of … More Eva Ekeblad and Potato Adoption in Europe.
Humans are inspired by nature in all sorts of ways. A substantial part of that natural world is the plants surrounding us. Some common, most rare, and many found medicinally useful to humans. Even some “useless” plants like Arabidopsis, thale cress, a mustard weed, has contributed human health through its place as a research organism. … More The State of The World’s Medicinal Plants
One of the hats I’m wearing these days is as the resources editor for The Annals of Botany. As part of that, for Fascination of Plants Day (FoPD), we are launching Botany Live (#BotanyLive), a global event to celebrate plants starting May 18 and going through the weekend. Live broadcasts of plant scientists talking about plants for … More Botany Live
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
This is a guest post about a new plant science community resource by Erin Sparks, Guillaume Lobet, Larry York and Frédéric Bouché It is midnight on a cold winter evening and you are scheduled to give a seminar at 8 am the next morning. All you are missing to complete your presentation is one last … More A community repository of plant illustrations
George Washington Carver was a lot more than peanuts. He was born a slave, in Missouri, during the American Civil War and died in the middle of World War II. In between, he was part of creating a more sustainable farming system, particularly for poor African American farmers in the South. Carver essentially had a … More George Washington Carver, Planter of Productive Farmers.
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
This is a re-post of a piece I wrote for the All Under One Leaf, the blog of the UK Plant Science Federation in August 2016. It is reposted here with permission. A flowering world There are around 369,000 known flowering plant species on Earth today, by far the most numerous group of plants living … More How Does a Flower Come to be?
The Quiet Branches 