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Tag Archives: plants

Infection time

By Stephen Ornes / June 14, 2013

Salmonella bacteria (pink) invade a defense cell in the body. The severity of the infection may depend on the time of day the germs are introduced to the body, new research suggests. Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Disease is more severe when it hits in the morning, at least in mice

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alec Davidson, bacteria, chronobiology, Circadian clock, food poisoning, fruit flies, getinvolved, infection, Irvine, Laura Roden, Manuela Raffatellu, mice, Morehouse School of Medicine, Paolo Sassone-Corsi, plants, rhythm, Salmonella, South Africa, University of California, University of Cape Town

A plant enemy’s enemy

By Jill Richardson / April 3, 2013

When eaten by caterpillars, some plants can emit chemicals that signal the help of special wasps. Once called, a wasp lays its egg inside a caterpillar. Credit: Ted Turlings

Plants use chemicals to recruit help in fighting off pests

Posted in Agriculture, Chemistry, Plants | Tagged Ali Zakir, Amanuel Tamiru, Barack Obama, botany, caterpillars, corn, corn rootworms, cotton, crop protection, Desmodium, Egyptian cotton leafworm, entomology, fall armyworm, farming, feature, features, insect communications, insects, integrated pest management, John Pickett, Kenya, larvae, Marcel Dicke, Maurice W. Sabelis, mite, moths, Napier grass, nematodes, pesticides, pests, plant breeding, plant communications, plant protection, plant signaling, plants, predation, predators, priming, push-pull, Sarah Obama, stem borer, Ted Turlings, Thomas Degen, topstories, volatiles, wasp, Zeyaur Khan

What is a patent?

By Janet Raloff / March 20, 2013

Even ideas can be stolen, which is why they need patent protection. Credit: istockphoto

Patents protect intellectual property from theft

Posted in Science & Society, Teaching Science | Tagged creations, intellectual property, invent, inventions, licensing, novelty, paperclip, patent, patent law, plant breeding, plants, property theft

Cool Jobs: Green Science

By Sharon Oosthoek / March 14, 2013

White spruce grow across northern North America, from Alaska to Labrador. As Arctic temperatures rise, spruce are spreading even farther north. Credit: Mark W. Skinner at USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

Scientists get at the root (and stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed) of the relationship between plants and their environment

Posted in Agriculture, Plants, STEM Careers | Tagged air pollution, air pollution control, albedo, allelopathy, arabidopsis, benzene, Bill Wolverton, birch, botany, climate change, contaminants, cool jobs, ecology, feature, forests, formaldehyde, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenhouse effectPlants, herbicide, houseplants, Joseph Jez, juglone, Labrador, NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, plant chemistry, plants, Pollination, pollinator, Quebec, rice, seeds, Serge Payette, sorghum, spruce, topstories, transpiration, tree line, trees, trichloroethylene, tundra, Université Laval, Washington University, weed killers, X-ray crystallography

Trees on the edge

By Stephen Ornes / December 14, 2012

A dead beech tree in Scotland. The majority of the world’s trees, including this type, would be pushed close to the point of death in a serious drought, a new study reports. Credit: Dr. Hervé Cochard (INRA, Clermont-Ferrand, France)

Serious drought is a threat to most trees, worldwide survey finds

Posted in Environment & Pollution | Tagged Brendan Choat, climate change, David Breshears, drought, ecology, getinvolved, global warming, plant physiology, plants, University of Arizona in Tucson, University of Western Sydney, xylem

Making the most of a meal

By Stephen Ornes / January 28, 2010

Sea slug swipes recipe for food-producing chemical from algae it eats

Posted in Animals | Tagged plants