Sparking wonder and promoting curiosity is something I think and write a lot about. For instance wrapping up AAAS 2016, AAAS 2017 and SciComm Camp. Curiosity sparks internal motivation to explore out the world, or one small part of it, at least. We’re here for too little time to experience it all. A curious culture – open to … More In Defense of Curiosity and Science.
There are 400,000 known species of plants on Earth. 350,000 are flowering plants. How do we know? How does plant go from unknown to known? Someone, a person, has to notice. To think it matters. There have been countless botanists throughout human history observing the natural world. Plant collection and documentation got to be big … More Uncovering what’s there.
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
Voyager 2 launched on August 20th, 1977. Voayger one followed on September 5th, 1977. In between that, I was born. So I’ve always sort had a fondness for these missions that I grew up with. As I did, the Voyager missions are 40 and though largely finished with their mission of exploring the outer … More The Voyager Generation
The world (the United States at least) seems utterly divided and the neo-nazi rally in Charlottesville last weekend as well as other events this week has made me despair and wonder if there’s a bright future or not, and so I’m going to write a story. And it is the story of us – of … More The Dynamic and Unifying Force of Science.
A New Phase Two years ago I planted the seed that grew into what this blog has become today. It’s gone better than I thought and has provided opportunities to write for other blogs, a society magazine, and been an integral part of my growth as a science writer, and re-awoken my love of science … More Changes at The Quiet Branches.
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
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 Lost Tomato Flavor Tomatoes show up in a lot of our … More Lost Tomato Flavors Regained.
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.
The Quiet Branches 