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We’re taking a break!
Thanks for visiting! The greenseedling staff is taking a Early Summer Break for a couple of weeks, but we’ll be back with a ’summer schedule’ of stories beginning May 24. Until then, enjoy some of our archived stories and other offerings! Happy Summer! – The gs staff
We’re on Winter Break!
Best wishes for a great holiday season from the greenseedling staff! (Photo courtesy: www.paulrezendes.com)
Happy Thanksgiving!
We’re taking the week off! In the meantime, please take a look at our archives, fun stuff, and media page. In the spirit of the season, we’d like to say that we’re certainly thankful for our readers! Happy Thanksgiving! – the greenseedling staff
GS is taking a break until October
Welcome greenseedling readers!
GS is taking a break until October. But don’t worry – as always, we encourage you to check out our archives for great plant science news stories. Remember we have links to interesting science podcasts and books to keep you occupied for weeks in the Podcasts...
We’re on break!
Greetings greenseedling readers -
Our writing staff is on break until the week of Memorial Day! In the meantime, we encourage you to explore the other parts of the website including the story archives, Fun Stuff, and the Podcasts and Media .
See you soon,
GS staff
We’re on Spring Break!
The Greenseedling staff is on Spring Break this week! While we’re happily running through fields of wildflowers, please enjoy the stories in our archive. You can also find a great book or check out our “TV Guide” to current podcast in our Podcast and Media section. If you’re...
So, What Does Science Have To Say About Going Organic?
Trends come and go through our society like ripples on a pond…or something like that. At one point or another we’ve all been seduced by a clever marketing scheme; for me, it’s electronics (what would I do without my iPhone?!). So is organic food just the next big trend or will it really help us...
Happy Holidays!
Greenseedling is on winter break until late January. During this time, we encourage you to relax with a cup of hot chocolate and explore the archived material, comment on articles, or send us an email letting us know what you think. We’ll be back soon with fresh stories *and* coming soon –...
Happy Thanksgiving from Greenseedling!
Greenseedling is thankful for your support and for the plants and people who love them! We’ll be back with fresh stories on Monday Dec 1. Meanwhile, check out some of our Fun Stuff activities, listen to a podcast or take in a book listed on the Podcasts and Media page, or enjoy some of our previous...
We’ll be back this fall!
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 05 3rd, 2008 | No Comments
Insects Use Plants Like A Telephone – “OCCUPIED!” This is the signal sent from subterranean root-eating insects to aboveground insect surveyors, according to a study done at the Netherlands Institute for Ecology. The signal is transmitted through the vascular tissue of the occupied...
Plant News Stories April 21, 2008
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 04 21st, 2008 | No Comments
Dr. Mom Was Right — And Wrong — About Washing Fruits And Vegetables – Most people wash their fruits and vegetables before eating them, but it turns out that simple washing may not be enough. Microbes can wedge into the nooks and crannies of fruits and vegetables where soaps can’t...
Plant News Stories Apr 7, 2008
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 04 7th, 2008 | No Comments
Genes Key To Hormone Production In Plants Identified – Animals use hormones to respond to internal or external cues. Believe it or not, plants also use hormones. While plants have fewer hormones than animals, plant hormones regulate virtually every aspect of growth and development. However, one...
Plant News Stories Feb 7, 2008
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 02 7th, 2008 | No Comments
Growing Hypoallergenic Rubber Plants In Texas – Many people are allergic to rubber products. However, rubber from guayule plants doesn’t seem to cause an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals. Scientists cite the fact that guayule has fewer proteins than traditional rubber plants...
Plant News Stories Dec. 3, 2007
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 12 3rd, 2007 | No Comments
Australian scientists identify crucial barley gene – In many parts of the world, high levels of boron found in the soil are having a negative impact on agriculture. Too much boron in a plant can limit growth. In Australia, 17% of the barley yield is lost due to boron toxicity. A research...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Sept. 3
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 09 2nd, 2007 | No Comments
Plant genes switched on by sound waves – Can plants hear? A recent study suggests that sounds waves turn on certain genes in rice. Published in Molecular Breeding.
Orchids likely decorated dinosaur stomping grounds – Orchid pollen found in amber suggests Orchids have been around since...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Aug 13
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 08 13th, 2007 | No Comments
Discovery in plant virus may help prevent HIV and similar viruses – Zhixiang Chen, a geneticist at Purdue University, has found a way to block Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV) infection in plants. Because HIV and CaMV attack cells in much the same way, researchers believe they may be able to use...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of July 23
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 07 24th, 2007 | No Comments
GS is on vacation next week – see you the week of Aug 6!
Researchers JAZ(zed) about plant resistance discovery – Researchers at Michigan State University and Washington State University have discovered how a major plant hormone, jasmonate, affects the ability of plants to stave off a pathogen...
Mid-week update July 20
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 07 20th, 2007 | No Comments
Hello, it’s your plants calling... The phone rings. Who can it be now? The babysitter? The office? No, it’s your Scotch Moss plant. He’d like to be watered, please.
Graduate students at New York University are working on a telecommunications product that monitors soil moisture in house...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of July 16
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 07 18th, 2007 | No Comments
Dr. Norman Borlaug receives Congressional Gold Medal - Plant breeder Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his study of high-yield crops. His work led to the Green Revolution, which describes the significant increase in crop yields in the 1940s-1960s that fed millions around the world....
Highlighted Stories for the Week of July 9
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 07 10th, 2007 | No Comments
McDonald’s puts oil to green use – The golden arches announced last week that they are converting all their trucks in the U.K. to run on biodiesel, the source of which will be McDonald’s used cooking (vegetable and rapeseed) oil. Investors are quite pleased as the smell of McDonald’s...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of June 25
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 06 24th, 2007 | No Comments
Six Inch Tall Tree - Plant scientists at Oregon State University have shown they can control Poplar tree height by genetic manipulation. By inserting genes from a small weed (Arabidopsis) into Poplar trees, they produced trees ranging in height from a few inches to up to 50 feet after several years’...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of June 18
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 06 18th, 2007 | No Comments
Plants Recognize Siblings – Research published in Biology Letters (June 12) suggests that plants (Sea rocket) in the same pot compete aggressively for resources – unless they are siblings. How can plants tell who’s who? Scientists believe plants detect the identity of their pot-mates...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of June 11
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 06 11th, 2007 | 1 Comment
Getting the Bugs Out of Genetically Modified Crops – A controversial topic surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops is their possible harmful effect on the environment. A landmark study published in Science this week shows that Bt cotton and Bt corn, which has been genetically modified to carry...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of June 4
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 06 4th, 2007 | No Comments
Researchers Find 2,100 Year-Old Melon – Archeologists have discovered the remains of the oldest melon ever recovered – with the flesh still intact on the rind – at a site in Japan.
Bill Whitman, 92, Is Dead; Scoured the Earth for Rare Fruit – Self taught horticulturalist with...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of May 28
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 05 28th, 2007 | No Comments
Nature surrenders flowery secrets to international team – A recent publication in Science reports a mathematical model describing how plants arrange their flowers on the stem. The researchers integrated into their model knowledge from several disciplines – plant molecular biology, mathematics...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of April 16
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 04 18th, 2007 | No Comments
NASA expects to find non-green plants: NASA scientists have developed a method for predicting the color of plants on other planets by measuring light wavelengths emitted by the stars the planets orbit.
Satellite images aid implementation of agricultural reform: Satellite images are being used to identify...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of April 9
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 04 10th, 2007 | No Comments
Earliest evidence of maize farming in Mexico - A report to published in PNAS reveals that maize domestication began in Mexico more than 1200 years earlier than previously believed. The findings, based on microfossil evidence, also suggest that farming began in the lowlands of Mexico, not in the semi-arid...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of March 26
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 03 26th, 2007 | No Comments
Ancient pollen may determine where clay army was made - The 2,200 year old clay army was created to protect the tomb of the first emperor of China. Where these figures were made has been a long-standing mystery. Now, pollen grains found in the clay may be used to determine the location of the ancient...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of March 19
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 03 20th, 2007 | No Comments
Strawberry boycott in Spain – In Europe, environmentalists are proposing a boycott of strawberries grown in southern Spain citing concerns about irrigation and pollution resulting from strawberry farms. About 95% of Spanish strawberries are produced in the region, which is close to a protected...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of March 5
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 03 5th, 2007 | No Comments
Climate change is affecting the maple syrup industry – The maple syrup industry in America’s Northeast is a huge economic contributor to that region. Rising average temperatures in recent years has been drastically affecting the biological clock of maple trees, making it a challenge to...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Feb. 26
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 02 26th, 2007 | No Comments
Increase your cerebral blood flow – with chocolate! – Ian Macdonald from University of Nottingham, U.K. reported at a recent meeting that consumption of dark chocolate cocoa increased blood flow to the cerebrum for two to three hours. The active ingredient is flavanols, which are also present...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Feb. 19
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 02 19th, 2007 | No Comments
Hot chilies a longtime favorite - Fossil evidence from an ancient Ecuadorian village suggests that people have been using chilies to spice up their food for at least 6,000 years. Scientists identified fossilized starch granules from domesticated chilies on grindstones and pottery. Chili spice became...
Feb. 15 update
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 02 15th, 2007 | No Comments
Two-Thousand -Year-Old Seed Germinates - a date seed tossed aside as waste 2000 years ago has germinated under the care of Dr. Elaine Soloway of the Arava Institute. This is the oldest seed on record to have been sucessfully germinated.
The date tree is aptly named Methuselah after the oldest living...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Feb. 12
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 02 13th, 2007 | No Comments
Happy Darwin Day! – Four years ago, a group of US and UK scientists designated Charles Darwin’s birthday (Feb. 12) “Darwin Day” – a day to celebrate Science. Darwin Day festivities in the U.S. and U.K. promote education about science, and particularly evolution, in community...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Feb. 5
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 02 5th, 2007 | No Comments
Board the windows! - Sheng Yang He at Michigan State University reported in a recent issue of Cell that plants are able to close the small pores on their leaves (stomata) to prevent bacterial invaders from getting inside. Unfortunately for the plant, some kinds of bacteria have already developed...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Jan. 29
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 01 29th, 2007 | No Comments
The Baobabs – Writer and photographer Ron Emmons wrote a piece on the “bizarre baobabs”, as he calls them, a tree native to the deserts of Australia, Africa and Madagascar. Sometimes called the “upside-down tree”, this tree has the distinct appearance of having roots in...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Jan. 22
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 01 21st, 2007 | No Comments
If leaves could talk – Plants that live on land have tiny pores on the surface of their leaves that allow for gas exchange, somewhat like little mouths. Appearing in the Feb. 1 issue of Nature is news of the identity of two genes responsible for development of these pores. The genes, creatively...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Jan. 15
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 01 15th, 2007 | No Comments
Giant flowers – The raffiesia flower, also known as the ‘corpse flower’, grows up to 1 meter (3ft) wide and smells like rotting flesh. Interestingly, the parasitic raffiesia plant is a relative of plants whose flower size is only a few millimeters wide, which suggests that the raffiesia...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Jan. 8
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 01 8th, 2007 | No Comments
Hunting big game – Amateur naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor identified what are perhaps the tallest trees in the world. Located in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park in California, these trees are over 370 feet high and up to 2,200 years old. Taylor and Atkins, armed with a laser range...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Jan. 1
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 01 1st, 2007 | No Comments
Herbicide resistant weeds cause trouble in the cotton industry – Cotton farmers are facing a tough foe: a very stubborn weed called Amaranthus palmeri, a type of pig weed. The problem? Amaranthus grows quickly (and up to 10 feet tall!) and resists the most common commercially available weed killers...
Christmas Week update
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 12 29th, 2006 | No Comments
No stories for this week. However, I leave you with Christmas Botany – fun plant facts related to the Christmas season. This very amusing site is part of Dr. Stephen Saupe’s Plants and Human Affairs class. Of particular note: evidence (?) that the inspiration for Santa Claus comes from...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Dec. 18
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 12 19th, 2006 | No Comments
Algae Sex Determination – A recent breakthrough in understanding how sperm and egg cells arose comes from work in Algae. A paper published in Current Biology reports that a male specific gene expressed in sperm cells may have its origins in an isogamous ancestor, that is, a species that has no...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Dec. 4
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 12 5th, 2006 | 1 Comment
Lunar Colony Planned – NASA announced plans on Monday for the development of a lunar colony on the south pole of the Moon. The colony, to begin construction around 2020, would be a base of operations for future space exploration and a permanent base for research. As part of a Global Exploration Strategy,...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Nov. 27
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 11 28th, 2006 | No Comments
Snapping jaws of death – Think plants don’t move quickly? The Venus flytrap snaps shut its leaves in 40 milliseconds – without the aid of muscles or a nervous system. But *how* this happens has been a mystery. A recent paper in Nature describes research into the physics of “snap...
Highlighted Stories for the week of Nov. 20
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 11 18th, 2006 | No Comments
Edible food wraps provide antimicrobial properties – Thin films made of apple puree and oregano oil may one day coat fruits and vegetables to prevent growth of E.coli. Developed by the USDA, the product takes advantage of the natural antimicrobial properties of plant-derived essential oils. Films...
Highlighted Stories for the week of Nov. 13
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 11 12th, 2006 | No Comments
Chlamydia and plants share common ancestry? – Scientists studying leucine biosynthesis in plants were surprised to discover that one of the genes in this pathway was very similar to a gene in Chlamydia. The plant and Chlamydia versions of this gene have been shown to have a similar function,...
E. coli evolution in real time
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 11 7th, 2006 | No Comments
Real Time Evolution – Using comparative genome sequencing, scientists from the Madison, WI based company NimbleGen Systems Inc have shown that E. coli bacteria adapted to poor growing conditions within six days (E. coli divide every 20 minutes or so) through selection of mutational changes within...
Highlighted Stories for the week of Nov. 6
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 11 5th, 2006 | No Comments
Embryos undergoing cell division fossilized – Fossilized remains of a 600 million-year-old embryonic sponge-like animal have been unearthed in China. The embryos apparently met disaster whilst in the process of dividing, giving scientists a unique look at early cell division events in ancient animals....
Plant scientists get the short end of the…stick?
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 10 30th, 2006 | No Comments
A letter to the journal Nature issued an interesting complaint. The Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine went to Andrew Fire and Craig Mello this year. Fire and Mello, researchers who study the nematode C. elegans, won the prize for discovering the mechanisms of RNAi – a method of gene regulation...
Highlighted Stories for the week of Oct 30
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 10 29th, 2006 | No Comments
Bizarre Beasts, Past and Present – Exhibit at the The National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC depicts real animals with somewhat bizarre features. The artist, Gary Staab, created life size sculptures of these creatures. The bird shown at left was seven feet tall.
The Birds and the Bees (and...
Highlighted Stories for the week of Oct 23
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 10 22nd, 2006 | No Comments
Smallest genome yet sequenced – Researchers have sequenced the genome of Carsonella ruddii, a bacterium which resides within specialized cells of an insect. Because the Carsonella genome is believed to be too small to contain all the genes necessary for life, researchers believe they are witnessing...
Darwin’s complete works online
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 10 21st, 2006 | No Comments
Free Darwin – Thanks to a project at Cambridge University, the public may access all of Darwin’s works online for free. It’s a work in progress; only 50% of his works are online at the moment. Cambridge is also looking for assistance in this project. Of course, Darwin is best known...
Highlighted Stories for the week of Oct 16
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 10 15th, 2006 | No Comments
In the spirit of the Halloween season, there is (somewhat sensationalized, but fun) news of a mouse eaten by a pitcher plant (Nepenthes truncata) in France. Also, pumpkin and palm seed oil are being used in Africa as a cheaper, alternative biofuel to power communication networks.
Eating walnuts may...
Highlighted stories for the week of Oct 9
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 10 10th, 2006 | 1 Comment
Space lettuce – Horticulturist Dr. Fred Davies at Texas A&M, in collaboration with NASA’s “Salad Bowl” program, discusses his progress in creating sustainable food options for astronauts and future space colonists. More information here, including the Dr. Davies’ webpage.
Insects...
Highlighted stories for the week of Oct 2
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 10 1st, 2006 | No Comments
Can weeds “sniff” out their prey? Recent study from Penn State published in Science suggests that the parasitic strangleweed can detect chemicals produced by its preferred host, the tomato plant. The strangleweed may use these airborne chemicals as a targeting cue to grow towards the host...
The Inner Life of a Cell
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 09 27th, 2006 | No Comments
Check out an incredible 3D animation of processes that go on in a cell. It’s called The Inner Life of a Cell and was created for Harvard biology students by XVIVO, LLC, a science animation company. John Liebler was the lead animator. Music was composed by Matt Berky.
Below is a screen shot...
E.O. Wilson strikes again
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 09 23rd, 2006 | No Comments
I recently heard an interview with the famous biologist E.O. Wilson on NPR’s Science Friday. Dr. Wilson has come out with another book with a decidedly unique approach to forwarding the movement to save biodiversity. In an open letter, he appeals to a Baptist preacher calling on fundamentalist...
Highlighted stories for the week of Sept 25
Posted by Jen in Uncategorized on 09 22nd, 2006 | No Comments
Here are a few stories out in the news:
Grass on your roof? pretty interesting idea – using roof turf mats for better thermal insulation and to reduce the “urban heat island” effect. The mental image is cool, but would it really work?
Self watering forests unusual desert forest in...
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