Plants can’t really choose whose pollen they get covered with. All kinds of pollinators bring all kinds of pollen to the party. And with it they bring the burden, to the plant, of figuring out which pollen to allow in and which to send away. But as it turns out, plants know just which molecular bouncers to use, to keep the party going.… Read more
What is the biggest single celled organism out there? And how large is it exactly? Today, we have a contestant for the biggest single celled photosynthetic organism out there. Can you guess what it is?… Read more
Most people use instagram to follow celebs and look at highly staged photos of people enjoying their morning cup of cold brew on top of mountain in their underwear at sunset. Us plant nerds, however, like to look at plants.
And if you’re anything like us, you might have noticed a trend – marbled monstera plants, fancy ficuses with white borders, and pale or patterned philodendrons. These diverse beauties are out to show that being different from the other plants only makes them more fascinating.… Read more
Sometimes all you want for your research is a couple million of your favourite lab rat. No space in the green house? Try a beaker! Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is your guy – in fact, with Chlamy, you’ve got several million guys per millilitre.… Read more
With the idea of genetically modified (GM) crops, we the public were promised amazing new products. Healthier, tastier and better plant based foods to fill our plates. But now, it’s been over 30 years since people first proposed to use genetic engineering in plant breeding, and our plates mostly contain the same plant products as before.
What happened?… Read more
When the sun comes out, Germans and Australians have something in common: we light a fire and start cooking food outdoors. The usual barbecued suspects are sausages of questionable origin, something sitting in a red marinade, and charred but somehow-still-raw chicken breast. While this does sound mouthwatering, a new trend might bring a fresh player to the barbecues and kitchens around the world – plant based protein products.
Let’s have a look at what makes plant protein special.… Read more
Last weekend, the Fast Forward Science competition held its Super Fast challenge – 24 hours to tell a story about science on Instagram… this year, with the topic of “Hero”. I didn’t have to look far in my neighbourhood to find a true hero of the plant world: dandelion.… Read more
Hello to our English-speaking readers. This post is in German, you can find an English version here.
Hallo alle zusammen, heute gibt es mal etwas anderes.
Letztes Wochenende waren Joram und ich beim Potsdamer Tag der Wissenschaften, um Plants and Pipettes vorzustellen. Während wir normalerweise hier auf Englisch schreiben und sprechen, haben wir uns dieses mal auf Deutsch unterhalten, was mich ein kleines bisschen gestresst hat (Abb. 1). Dennoch hatten wir viel Spaß dabei, mit dem Publikum zu reden, Sonnenblumensamen zu verteilen und Fragen einzusammeln.… Read more
If you’re in the Potsdam/Berlin area this Saturday, May 11th, you’re in for a treat! You can meet the heads behind Plants and Pipettes (That’s us!) at the Potsdam Day of Science.
Eine deutsche Version des Artikels gibt es hier.
You can find all information on the official website, our little event is described here. You will find Plants and Pipettes in the foyer of the central building.
Come and say hi, bring your favourite questions about plant science and follow the hashtag #ptdw.… Read more
Some tiny parts are special: when you look at them in a blue light, they don’t look blue but instead green or red. They take the heat that is in the blue light, keep some for themselves and then send turn the rest of the heat into green or red light. They do that always in the same way and people who figure things out can use this in many different ways. … Read more