Need a little science snack to accompany your coffee break? You came to the right place. Have a seat and enjoy these games and other diversions. Glowing tomato sandwich, anyone?

Games and quizzes

Plant Biology Crossword Puzzle [NEW] The good folks over at the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) just published a new crossword for your enjoyment. Check it out at their site by following the link.

MysteryFabrics - Know what your clothes are made of? Learn how to find out what…exactly…you’re wearing! While you’re there: find out if you’re truly green by being a virtual contestant on the illuminating (and quite entertaining) DO YOU KNOW GREEN? quiz show found on this site. You may need to make some changes in your lifestyle. WARNING: By default, the website sound is on! Don’t take the quiz during lectures or in the library without pressing the mute button first!

Sci-Doku!
It’s Sudoku – only better. If you’re looking for a challenge, wrap your mind around Scientific American’s Sci-Duko! You need to first figure out what the word is and then place the letters of the word in the correct arrangement. A new Sci-Duko is published each week.

Consumer Consequences
What would the world be like if everyone lived as you did? Think you’re a good steward of the environment? Find out by taking this quiz, brought to us by American Public Media.

What is your Ecological Footprint?
How much land and water resources does your lifestyle require?

How would Earth appear if humans went extinct? Have we damaged the earth beyond repair? Read this article from New Scientist. The bottom line.

The Plant Cell Quiz- Think you know your plant organelles? Find out how much you remember from Introductory Biology with this About.com quiz.

Kitchen science

How to Make a Glowing Tomato
A little experiment that results in glowing tomatoes, with the help of matches, bleach and hydrogen peroxide. (GS hasn’t tried this and the chemistry discussed could be a bit unsound…but fun to watch the video). Have you done this experiment? SEND US YOUR PICTURES and let us know how it turned out! Write us at greenseedling(at)gmail.com.

Time lapse plants/Movies about plants

ChloroFilms[NEW]
A collection of amazing plant biology videos submitted as part of a competition for ‘best new plant biology video’. The ChloroFilms project was started by Dr. Daniel Cosgrove and supported by the American Society of Plant Biologists, Botanical Society of America, and the Canadian Botanical Association. All the winning videos are available on the ChloroFilms website, but here are direct links to the winners of the best plant biology video (posted on YouTube):

Grand prize: Ela Lamblin of Vashon, WA, “Fertile Eyes” on plant pollination and fertilization.
First Prize: Daniel von Wangenheim of Cologne, Germany, “fantastic vesicle traffic“;
Kris Holmes of Rochester, NY “La Bloomba“;
Burkhard Schulz of Purdue University “PSI – Are my soybeans wearing different genes?“;
Mike Wilder of Portland, OR for his video series “The Carnivorous Syndrome in 3D“.

Plants in Motion
Plants move a bit….slower than the rest of us. But if you’ve ever doubted that plants can move, check out these incredible timelapse movies of plant movements produced by Roger Hangarter at Indiana University. A GS favorite? The altar of the light bulb! Click under tropisms > Cool corn phototropism

The life of a flower in the blink of an eye
Color time-lapse images of flowers blooming and fruits ripening and rotting.

Art and science

The Phytochemical Collection
Phytochemicals have long been touted as important for human health (lycopene in tomatoes, capsaicin in hot peppers). Florida State University microscopists put together a gallery of what these chemicals look like, up close and personal!

Plants: up close and personal
This page posts images from a book called Secretory Structures of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants by K.P. Svoboda and T.G. Svoboda. The scanning electron microscope images of pollen grains and petals are really stunning.

The Art of Science
Princeton University has hosted a competition of artistic images taken during the course of scientific research. This isn’t a plant-specific competition, but the images are well worth a look nonetheless. The link is to the 2006 Competition results.

For Plant Enthusiasts Only!

Tora Flora[NEW]
a website devoted to the study of plants in the Jewish Tradition

Floral Derangement
A discussion of a previously uncharacterized family of plants: Artificae Plantae. “A genuine scientific conundrum. Individuals appear to be virtually immortal, they easily form not just interspecies but intergeneric crosses, and they lack any genetic material.” Perhaps every dorm room needs one of these?

Houseplants That Help Purify The Air
Worried about the quality of your air? The results of a NASA study lists common houseplants that effectively clean the air in your house, dorm room or office.

Top 10 Poisonous Plants
A list of the top 10 most poisonous plants. Many are probably very familiar – are any of these lurking in the corners of your house?

Garden Rant
A fantastic website all about gardening – for the rest of us. Click here for great tips on gardening, books, and identifying garden creatures (other than the plants).

NYT Science question
Are certain trees more susceptible or more resistant to being toppled by high winds? Check out this Q&A from the New York Times to find out if the trees on your property are likely to be felled by a hurricane!

The Mathematical Lives of Plants
The spiral patterns formed by plant leaves, seeds, or other structures follow a precise and complex mathematical pattern. But how? Scientists have been working on this problem for hundreds of years. Research into plant biochemistry may be the key.

Adventures of the Prymaats in Arabidopsis research – an amusing read.