Category: articles
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This superhero protein will fight anaemia
I like plants a lot – especially when I can eat them. A purely plant based diet, however, might not include enough iron to stay healthy (although not necessarily). New research could change that. … Read more
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It’s time we talked about see-through wood
Using the chemicals we bleach our hair with and a little sun we can create a new type of wood that’s (nearly) as clear as glass.
Wood is a rather remarkable material that humans have been using for over a million of years, both for fuel and for the creation of structures. Wood is cheap yet versatile, with low density and light weight, yet high strength, and the ability to be highly insulating. Relevant to modern times, it’s also a renewable resource, and a carbon sink. … Read more
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Why the length of your DNA matters
A recent publication describes the extraction of ultra-long DNA. We discuss why the length of a DNA strand is important for science.… Read more
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Simple Things* #9
Green living things can’t move to one another like animals do to make more of themselves. So, they use smaller animals to help them. Green living things have cups at the end of their stick-like bodies, and these cups have colors and smells that make small animals want to come to them. A green living thing puts some special stuff that sticks to things at the end of long tiny sticks in the middle of the cups. This special stuff is important to make more of the green living thing.… Read more
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Blast in the Past makes Lettuce Less Limp
After harvest, products like lettuce can quickly lose their looks and crunch. Now, research shows that a short spell of high light before the harvest can help greens stay fresher and more nutritious.… Read more
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You make my heart skip a beat
Roses are Red
Delphinium is Blue
It might look quite lovely
But it’s poisonous too!
In honour of the recent Valentine’s day, and the recording of our soon-to-be-released Plant Book Club episode on Plants that Kill*.… Read more
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Just like humans, these monkeys use plants to self-medicate
Observations of Brazilian monkeys shows once again that humans aren’t the only ones to use plants as medicine.… Read more
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A mysterious molecular sunscreen protects photosynthesis
Change is a good thing but it can lead to problems. Like when you change your greenhouse to a nicer one – what if your plants don’t like it? Or worse, what if they like it so much that they don’t behave like you’re used to? Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, made that experience and used it to uncover a mysterious molecular sunscreen. … Read more
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The hard truth about soft fruit
During these cold winter months I long for the sensation of biting into a ripe peach or a deliciously soft strawberry. It is possible to get my hands on some fruit now, however, they are certainly not as mouth-watering as in summer. They are hard, and sour and make me miserable. … Read more
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This AI looks at plants all day, so you don’t have to
A new machine-learning based pipeline that could help phenotype plants en masse, might just break a major bottleneck in the process of understanding what plant genes really do.… Read more