Plants and Pipettes

we talk about plants and (used to) use pipettes

All posts

  • Endangered Species Day – A Plea for Plants

    Endangered Species Day – A Plea for Plants

    Reading Time: 2 minutes Today, May 15th 2020, is Endangered Species Day*, a day designed to raise awareness about the many species that are threatened by human activity in our changing world. When thinking of endangered species, we tend to immediately picture large and visible mammals, like pandas, tigers, whales and gorillas. But of course, there are organisms across […]

  • That healthy green glow

    That healthy green glow

    Reading Time: 3 minutes aka, how to really make the grass greener. And kind of spookier.

  • Tools of the Trade: GFP

    Tools of the Trade: GFP

    Reading Time: 5 minutes Today we’re taking a look at one of the molecular biology’s most commonly used tools- but in this case we’re not talking about a physical thing like a pipette or a PCR machine… Let’s take a quick look at GFP.

  • Let’s begin with ABCD

    Let’s begin with ABCD

    Reading Time: 2 minutes So this blog is mostly about plants, but we wanted to quickly give a shoutout to a new article that hits on another topic that’s incredibly important in the world of science.

  • May Day and Mary’s Tears

    May Day and Mary’s Tears

    Reading Time: 2 minutes Happy May Day everyone. For some, today marks the beginning of Spring, which is more than enough reason for us to rejoice. But let’s do our rejoicing in a way that involves learning, shall we?

  • Chlamy’s Cousin and the Curious Case of the Blood Snow

    Chlamy’s Cousin and the Curious Case of the Blood Snow

    Reading Time: 3 minutes We’ve all heard the warning ‘don’t eat the yellow snow’. But what should you do if you come across of patch of snow that’s red as blood?

  • Fighting fungus with fungus

    Fighting fungus with fungus

    Reading Time: 4 minutes While fungi can be very beneficial to a plant, some other Fungi are just no fun when you want to grow crops. We talked already about a banana fungus destroying plantations across the world, and also cereals like corn, barley and wheat suffer from various fungus-induced diseases. Now, researchers have found crucial details on a gene that […]

  • National Tea Day – our nerdy tea facts

    National Tea Day – our nerdy tea facts

    Reading Time: 3 minutes According to some people on the internet, today April 21st, is National Tea Day in my new adopted country (UK). So why don’t you grab a hot cup of infused Camellia sinensis, and join us for our 4 favourite nerdy tea facts.

  • Pretty in Pink: The Clamydomonas Story

    Pretty in Pink: The Clamydomonas Story

    Reading Time: 5 minutes Also known as ‘would white salmon still taste as beautiful?’

  • Joram and the Easter Egg Plants

    Joram and the Easter Egg Plants

    Reading Time: 3 minutes Those of you who have followed for a while will know that neither Joram nor I are religious, but that we both grew up in vaguely Christian cultures. So although we’ve gone with an Easter theme here, we want to wish everyone- whether they’re observing Easter, the start of Passover, or (in a couple of […]

  • A bug’s life (and/or death)

    A bug’s life (and/or death)

    Reading Time: 4 minutes When under attack from herbivores, plants can’t rely on a speedy getaway. Instead, they use a range of defences, that include the physical (thorns and trichomes) and the chemical (bitter taste or poison). They also take solace in the fact that their herbivorous enemies have enemies of their own…. This is a story with three […]

  • Spring bursts forth…slowly

    Spring bursts forth…slowly

    Reading Time: 4 minutes The arrival of spring often happens quite suddenly: within days, trees can change from bare to bountiful, and the world is filled with flowers! In a recent publication, Luis Villar and colleagues made a huge step towards understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive floral development in the important crop plant sweet cherry. As well as […]

  • Life in the litterbox

    Life in the litterbox

    Reading Time: 4 minutes 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!

  • Fungal Juice- Keeping Science Simple

    Fungal Juice- Keeping Science Simple

    Reading Time: 4 minutes 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 […]

  • The Isolated Cycad

    The Isolated Cycad

    Reading Time: 4 minutes Encephalartos woodii is a cycad. And Encephalartos woodii is alone.

  • How a broken growth chamber led to the discovery of a new regulatory pathway

    How a broken growth chamber led to the discovery of a new regulatory pathway

    Reading Time: 5 minutes 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.

  • Moss of the desert

    Moss of the desert

    Reading Time: 4 minutes 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 […]

  • Appreciating the Sun

    Appreciating the Sun

    Reading Time: 2 minutes 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 […]

  • DNA sequencing – The Methods that Made us

    DNA sequencing – The Methods that Made us

    Reading Time: 4 minutes Every living thing depends on the information stored in its genetic material. DNA, the code passed down through generations and geological time, defines an organism. Within individual cells, DNA is transcribed into RNA, that is then translated to busy proteins: DNA is the starting block for cellular development and activity! Furthermore, the genetic information of […]

  • Happy Women’s Day

    Happy Women’s Day

    Reading Time: < 1 minutes We wanted to wish everyone a Happy Women’s Day, 2020.