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Life in the litterbox
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when life gives you kitty litter, you make… a new affordable growth system that could make it easier to broaden our understanding of plant-microbe interactions!… Read more
Fungal Juice- Keeping Science Simple
In order to help our favourite lab plants and microorganisms grow fast and strong, we aim to provide them with the conditions and nutrients they need. To do so, we often rely on media mixes that are both complex and expensive to make. Now, researchers show that an important fungus species, that acts as a model for plant-fungal symbiosis, can be grown better than before on a very simple diet that contains just two ingredients. And one of them can be found at your local store.… Read more
Uncomfortably large amounts of salt
It’s the best time to start a sourdough and listen to us talk about plant biology. Let the dough rise and watch your plants move in response to light and/or gravity!… Read more
The Isolated Cycad
Encephalartos woodii is a cycad. And Encephalartos woodii is alone.… Read more
How a broken growth chamber led to the discovery of a new regulatory pathway
Serendipitous discoveries are my favourite reoccurring tale in biological research. You may have heard about Alexander Fleming, the 20th century microbiologist who left some bacteria on open plates with growth medium overnight only to find them in the morning being killed by a strange fungus. Thus Penicillium (and its product penicillin) was discovered.… Read more
Flatten the curve!
We’re trying something new in these trying times. Every other week we’ll have a deep dive into a new paper and on off-weeks, like this one, we’ll talk about some of our other segments. So practice social distance and enjoy our new episode!… Read more
Moss of the desert
aka- ‘Making the moss’t of the rain’
Syntrichia caninervis is a moss. Personally, when I think of mosses, I mostly tend to picture them clinging to the moist side of a tree, or snuggling in amongst the undergrowth. You know, kind of damp and earthy places.
But unlike whatever-that-moss-that-is-growing-all-over-my-back-patio-is, Syntrichia caninervis is not found primarily in a overwatered and underloved boggy English garden. Instead, it’s found across the North – including the the Mojave desert in the US, and the Gurbantünggüt Desert of Northwestern China.… Read more
Appreciating the Sun
According to the ever-wise wikipedia, today- the second Friday of March- is ‘Solar Appreciation Day’.
There doesn’t seems to be much information about this one around, beyond the fact that the day is suppose to highlight the possibility of using Solar energy, and other renewable energy sources, to power this planet. Which generally seems like a pretty good idea.
Of course, we tend to be a little obsessive with our own planty narrative, so when we think of appreciating the sun, we tend to go straight back to our green friends.… Read more
Sunflower bros
This week, it’s all about viruses. We feel anxious about the corona virus, we talk about viruses in Maize and we even listen to viral music.… Read more