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 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?
One of my favorite podcasts is Flash Forward, created (& hosted) by Rose Eveleth. She explores a potential future and then comes back to the present to discuss how plausible it is and the implications of a future like that, and just what that future says about our present world. So with that in mind, … More Chez GMO
The Quiet Branches is joining the SciLogs network. I’m excited to be a part of it! I’ll continue to crosspost here too. I look forward to continuing to share the world of plant science and the picture of the plant world revealed by plant science there. This first post will discuss some thoughts on communicating … More Plant Biotechnology, black boxes, and the Complex World.
The Quiet Branches is taking a mini-vacation for most of July. I’ll be posting dispatches and plant stories from the annual Plant Biology conference organized by ASPB in Minneapolis, MN this year, July 26-30. So do check back here for plant stories I encounter while there (follow along with the conference at #plantbiology15). In the meantime, … More Vacation.
This week, I’m going to write about a Genetically modified crop plant brought into the world by nature. Did you think only humans could genetically modify organisms? Nature’s been at it since long before humans were around. An international team of researchers published a paper in PNAS about the discovery of two T-DNA loci in … More A Naturally Genetically Modified Organism.
Good coffee has arrived on the International Space Station (ISS). An Italian designed espresso machine designed to fill a pouch with espresso will be installed on the ISS. They do have coffee in space currently, but it is apparently the instant stuff that tastes terrible, but works. I’m by no means a coffee snob and … More ISSpresso.
Say you write something and submit it for editing. Your editor sends it back with comments. And you create a new version and re-submit and so on. it’s a feedback loop. With editor/writer, it’s a loop of iterative improvement resulting in something publishable (ideally). Feedback loops in biology are also quite common. A recent paper … More Small surprises and a new feedback loop.
Quiet Branches started off with a broad definition of how plants show up in our lives. Two weeks ago, I wrote about translating research into practical products. And highlighted the many ways biotechnology shows up in our lives every day, in some critical (feeding the world) and fun ways (color changing petunias!). The video from … More Norman Borlaug.
The Quiet Branches 