Plants and Pipettes

we talk about plants and (used to) use pipettes

Category: articles

  • Rat chews tree for added poison damage

    Rat chews tree for added poison damage

    The crested rat chews the poison arrow plant, extracting a deadly plant poison that is then smeared on its fur for defence.… Read more

  • Penguin Poop is Pink

    Penguin Poop is Pink

    Penguin poop, as it turns out is pink.

    And I need you all to know that – despite what several sources might say- the reason it’s pink, isn’t because of the krill (little sea crustaceans) that they eat.… Read more

  • The Algae Expert who helped Crack Code in WWII

    The Algae Expert who helped Crack Code in WWII

    While some say that hiring Geoffrey Tandy at the top-secret centre for Allied Codebreaking was a result of mistaken terminology, the marine biologist nonetheless used his transferable skills to help win the war.… Read more

  • Dracula, Robin Hood and Zombie plants…

    Dracula, Robin Hood and Zombie plants…

    When the long-term plant-host relationship becomes too close… it might be a sign of a parasitic relationship.… Read more

  • I saw the Kew Garden’s giant Corpse Flower

    I saw the Kew Garden’s giant Corpse Flower

    By enormous luck, a spur-or-the-moment decision to escape to London’s Kew Gardens on a sunny Friday had me running into the blooming event of the season: the opening of the Corpse flower’s massive bloom.… Read more

  • My bees bring all the sugar to the flower

    My bees bring all the sugar to the flower

    The sound of insects flying next to my ear has never excited me in a good way. The sound usually triggers an intense reaction defined by hand waving, jumping and squealing like a grown man. This is one of the many ways you can tell that I’m not a flower, because if I were, I’d get sweeter by the minute as soon as that buzz appears.… Read more

  • Turning Cabbage into Cauliflower

    Turning Cabbage into Cauliflower

    Cauliflower’s ability to imitate anything from ‘rice’ to ‘wings’, has seen the previously humble veggie rise in power in recent years. Yet while its transformative powers are celebrated by foodies across the world, until now it has remained unclear how the vegetable itself (and its fancy Romanesco variant) evolved from its plainer predecessor – cabbage… Read more

  • Plants ‘smell’ pheromones of parasitic worms

    Plants ‘smell’ pheromones of parasitic worms

    Plants perceive the chemical signals that waft off worms like bad B-O as a sign to hunker down and start preparing their defences.

    The fact that nematodes -a type of small slender worm- are the most abundant animals on earth is almost definitely one of my least favourite facts.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an anti-wormer. But you might say I’m a bit of a worm snob – I simply prefer the fancy segmented ‘earthworm’ variety (aka annelids). While earthworms exist in my mind as friendly soil-living earth munchers that are ‘just the right size for a small child to put in its pockets’, I know that nematodes can range from microscopic to over a metre long.… Read more

  • May The Fourth Be With You

    May The Fourth Be With You

    The answer to the question, ‘what has a light sabre got to do with how plants express themselves’… Read more

  • Bug Pest Steals Plant Genes to Neutralize Plant Defences

    Bug Pest Steals Plant Genes to Neutralize Plant Defences

    Plants and herbivorous insects have long struggled in an evolutionary arms race. Now, in the first example of animals thieving plant genes, research shows that sweet potato whiteflies have overcome plant defences by looting the plants’ own genetic arsenal. … Read more