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?
I have questions for you, the readers (& anyone interested in plant science) as I consider my 2017 schedule for the blog and start to plan content for the year. So everyone knows (& can possibly help me), I will be moving onto a new job I still need to find within the first 3 … More What do You Want to see on The Quiet Branches 2017?
Why Genomes? Genome sequencing is routine now. Sequencing the A–T, C–G order of base pairs has gotten a lot cheaper and pipelines of software to do it have gotten better too. However, that doesn’t make it any less important. Before the era of physical (as in the actual basepair sequence structure), geneticists relied on maps … More Plant Genomes of 2016.
This is a guest post by Arif Ashraf. Arif Ashraf is PhD student at Iwate University, Japan and Graduate Student Ambassador of ASPB. His research interest is understanding the hormonal interplay in primary root development of Arabidopsis. He blogs about plant science at http://www.aribidopsis.blogspot.com Like us, plants have stem cells too. These are innate, … More Shoot Apical Meristem development: Model plant for high yielding crops
It was Carl Sagan’s birthday last week as well as a major election in the US that needs some perspective. And it is clear that science will need more advocacy and storytelling than ever on our pale blue dot, the only home we have ever known. Getting to Green Aroudn 3.7 billion (3,700,000,000) years ago, … More The Long Green View.
Picture a flower now, in your head. What do you see? Say it out loud even, or describe it in your mind (or in the comments below before reading on- honor system, I trust you). Picture a flower now, in your head. What do you see? Say it out loud even, or describe it in … More An Alien Flower?
Cells are the units that make up life. Multi-cellular organisms like humans or plants can be millions or trillions of cells. Most cells are also specialized in function. Skin cells look and do very different things from a brain neuron. A leaf cell is much different than a root cell. Specialized (i.e. differentiated) cells started … More How (plant) cells know who they are.
I got back from Plant Biology 2016 in Austin, TX a few days ago and have been trying to dive back into projects there though I also need some rest too. Conferencing is exhausting. That said, conferences and engaging in the online community are worthwhile. Though the meeting was a blur of twitter, attending sessions, … More Plant Biology 2016 reflections.
I’m heading to Plant Biology 2016 in Austin, TX tomorrow and will be writing form there on the ASPB blog and seeking stories of plant science to write about in the coming months. There are also some other writing projects for other blogs and a society magazine I am writing this month, so this space … More Plant Biology, 2016 Austin, TX
If you’re a plant scientist in the UK or EU (or a scientist of any kind), please do use the comments section below to talk about what Brexit might mean for you and your career. This post can serve as a repository of accounts about how policies impact STEM and vice-versa. Though the precise nature … More Brexit, Science policy, and Unintended Consequences of Trading Lemons.
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