Plants and Pipettes

we talk about plants and (used to) use pipettes

Author: tegan

  • Pigheaded pigweed- an amaranth that can’t be killed by Roundup

    Pigheaded pigweed- an amaranth that can’t be killed by Roundup

    Earlier in the week we introduced Amaranthus. A genus containing ornamental plants, various species with edible leaves and stems (i.e. vegetables), and plants producing grains filled with desirable products like proteins, the limiting amino acid lysine, fiber, and several minerals like iron. And we mentioned the resilience of the genus- its ability to withstand various environmental conditions. Well, today we’ll discuss the flipside of that coin: the role of an amaranth species as one of the most competitive and damaging weeds there is.… Read more

  • Unfading Amaranth

    Unfading Amaranth

    Many of you have probably already heard of amaranth. The pseudocereal jumped to global attention a few years back, as another ‘ancient superfood’ that could cure our health woes, following in the footsteps of foods like quinoa and chia.

    I’m a little late to jump on the amaranth bandwagon, but last week I heard about some cool new scientific research that made me want to know more about the wondergrain.  So here are five facts about #ourfavouriteplant of the week, amaranth… Read more

  • P-bodies prepare plants for growth in the light

    P-bodies prepare plants for growth in the light

    As anyone living in a poorly lit apartment (or country- heyo Germany!) will tell you, plants are pretty fond of light. Nonetheless, for many plants, life begins in darkness. Seeds often germinate under several centimetres of soil, so seedlings spend the first moments of their existence struggling to escape the black. Once they do, the success of finally meeting the light comes with its own challenge: a need for the plantling to discard the tools it used to emerge from seed and soil, and swiftly develop a skill for sunbathing.… Read more

  • Not Like Dad

    Not Like Dad

    Welcome to a new Plants and Pipettes segment- #didtheyreallycallitthat, in which we discuss the bizarre names that plant scientists give their favourite genes, proteins or mutants. Just for the record, we at Plants and Pipettes are totally in favour of inventive naming. It makes everything a lot easier to remember. And at least a little bit more fun.… Read more

  • Jurassic Bark

    Jurassic Bark

    Last weekend, while snooping around the Copenhagen Botanical Garden, I ran into a fellow Australian. Wollemia nobilis, the stuff of coniferous-tree legends! A tree that stood still in time as dinosaurs walked the Earth and then perished, as tectonic plates shifted and reshaped the lands, and as the ice advanced and retreated. A tree that was lost, and then found… but even now remains hidden in a location known only to some chosen few. Here are some of my favourite facts about the Australian Wollemi pine.… Read more

  • There’s no such thing as ‘the’ Arabidopsis genome

    There’s no such thing as ‘the’ Arabidopsis genome

    In the year 2000, the first complete nuclear genome of a plant species – Arabidopsis thaliana – was released into the wild (a.k.a to bunch of salivating scientists). Less than twenty years later, we had a total of 1135 genomes… for Arabidopsis alone! Today we’re talking about Arabidopsis ‘races’, and how they are a powerful tool for unravelling plant secrets.… Read more

  • RuBisCO: Room for Improvement?

    RuBisCO: Room for Improvement?

    Welcome to the final instalment of our three part series on RuBisCO. Today, we discuss three key ideas and attempts to improve RuBisCO… or at least to more efficiently clean up its mess. … Read more

  • Mushroom Diet: The Orchids who give up Photosynthesis

    Mushroom Diet: The Orchids who give up Photosynthesis

    When we think of plants we tend to make certain assumptions. Green, for starters. Photosynthesising, for sure. But some plants have decided to throw it all away, and act like the animals do. Meet Epipactis helleborine, an orchid species that sometimes lives entirely on a diet of mushrooms.
    Read more

  • PEPC is the new RuBisCOla

    PEPC is the new RuBisCOla

    Last week, we discussed how RuBisCO, although incredible and amazing…is also a little bit terrible at its job. Today we’re introducing a couple of cheats that plants have found to work around RuBisCO’s issues, and what this might mean for the future of food and fuel for humankind.
    Read more

  • Pagoda lily: the birds, the bees and… the mice???

    Pagoda lily: the birds, the bees and… the mice???

    This week on the podcast, Joram is introducing his new favourite plant, the Pagoda lily or Whiteheadia bifolia, which has been shown in a study to be pollinated by the Namaqua Rock Mouse. … Read more