Botany in the News

The BOTANY IN THE NEWS page is designed as a place for holding interesting plant/botany/botanist related stories that appear in the news across the country, and around the world. If you find an interesting article you'd like to share, please forward it to us, providing the link. We'll do our best to post it. e-Mail - bsa-manager@botany.org

More - Botany in the News!

• The forest comes alive for students (May 31, 2007) — The Daily Astorian - By KARA HANSEN -- Astoria Middle School takes an adventure in learning - Astoria middle-schoolers have been learning about environmental stewardship at its roots, in an outdoor location that didn't take them too far from homeroom. More than 100 seventh-graders converged on the Oregon Department of Forestry's Astoria district last week...... full story
  
• Botanists promote their passion with a magazine, conferences (May 31, 2007) — Ozarks Outdoors - By Ann Keyes -- Mission: To "promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere." BSA serves their mission by providing education for scientists and those with only an interest in plants by encouraging research and providing direction and expertise in regard to plants and the ecosystem...... full story
  
• Increased Production Of Vitamin C In Plants May Result From UCLA-Dartmouth Discovery (May 29, 2007) — Medical News Today -- UCLA and Dartmouth scientists have identified a crucial enzyme in plant vitamin C synthesis, which could lead to enhanced crops. The discovery now makes clear the entire 10-step process by which plants convert glucose into vitamin C, an important antioxidant in nature...... full story
  
• Largest Ever Affymetrix Genechip Plant Microarray Experiment (May 25, 2007) — NewsWise - Virginia Tech -- Virginia Bioinformatics Institute has completed the largest ever Affymetrix GeneChip® microarray study for a plant experimental system in an academic research setting. The 2600-chip experiment explores the counter-play of plant and pathogen genes during infection of soybean with the root-rot pathogen Phytophthora sojae, which results in $100–200 million losses annually in the US...... full story
  
• Students dig 'outdoor classroom' (May 25, 2007) — Iowa City Press-Citizen - By Leah Dorzweiler -- In the years to come, visitors to West High School can expect to enjoy three acres of blossoming black-eyed susans, white prairie sage and pale purple coneflowers on the west side of the building. West High biology students, with the help of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, got a first-hand ecology lesson Thursday. Students and DNR instructors helped expand the existing prairie, adding on another 1.6 acres of plant seed to the current 1.4 acres...... full story
  
• Japanese emperor fetes Linnaeus tricentenary in Sweden (May 23, 2007) — Yahoo News - Agence France Presse - by Pia Ohlin -- Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko paid homage Wednesday to Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus on the 300th anniversary of his birth, taking part in both solemn and festive celebrations in Sweden. The imperial couple attended an austere memorial ceremony for Linnaeus, who invented the current system of classifying organisms, and an academic celebration of Linneaus' achievements at Uppsala University north of Stockholm...... full story
  
• Helping at Botanical Garden, O'Connor gets back to her roots (May 23, 2007) — The Arizona Republic - Ed Masley -- When people visit Sandra Day O'Connor in the Valley, there are two things she insists they see. The first is the Desert Botanical Garden...... full story
  
• Global Warming Could Be Offset Until 2080s By Urban Green Spaces, UK (May 18, 2007) — Medical News Today -- Scientists looking at the effect global warming will have on our major cities say a modest increase in the number of urban parks and street trees could offset decades of predicted temperature rises. The University of Manchester study has calculated that a mere 10% increase in the amount of green space in built-up centres would reduce urban surface temperatures by as much as 4°C. ..... full story
  
• Chemists Use Nanotechnology to Penetrate Plant Cell Walls (May 18, 2007) — AZoNano - Nanotechnology News -- A team of Iowa State University plant scientists and materials chemists have successfully used nanotechnology to penetrate plant cell walls and simultaneously deliver a gene and a chemical that triggers its expression with controlled precision. Their breakthrough brings nanotechnology to plant biology and agricultural biotechnology, creating a powerful new tool for targeted delivery into plant cells...... full story
  
• Scientists Seek Useful Traits In Wild Cottons (May 17, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Texas A&M University - Agricultural Communications -- If you have Mom's smile, Dad's eyes and Grandpa's laugh, you might wonder what other traits you picked up from the genealogic fabric of the ol' family tree. Scientists at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension at Lubbock are studying the family tree of cotton for much the same reason...... full story
  
• Oceanic Storms Create Oases In The Watery Desert (May 17, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution -- For two decades, scientists have puzzled over why vast blooms of microscopic plant life grow in the middle of otherwise barren mid-ocean regions. Now a research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has shown that episodic, swirling current systems known as eddies act to pump nutrients up from the deep ocean to fuel such blooms...... full story
  
• Eat Your Broccoli: Study Finds Strong Anti-Cancer Properties In Cruciferous Veggies (May 17, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Oregon State University -- It turns out Mom was right – you should eat your broccoli. But what Mom may not have known is why broccoli is so healthy, and how its lesser known, younger offshoot may be a powerful anti-cancer agent...... full story
  
• Darwin's letters archived on web (May 16, 2007) — BBC News - By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter -- Evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin thought the voyage of the Beagle was a "magnificent scheme" allowing him to spend time "larking round the world". His delight at the five-year cruise is chronicled in a letter, available online for the first time...... full story
  
• Spud origin controversy solved (May 15, 2007) — EurekAlert News -- Andean, Chilean, or both? Crop science, biotechnology solve long-disputed debate over origin of the European potato. Molecular studies recently revealed new genetic information concerning the long-disputed origin of the “European potato.” ........ full story
  
• Marine weed threatens waterways (May 10, 2007) — University of Queensland Online News -- A marine weed native to Moreton Bay is overgrowing waterways around Australia, in California and throughout the Mediterranean Sea. The plastic-like weed called Caulerpa taxifolia, invades naturally occurring seagrass and is only eaten by an uncommon slug that can tolerate its toxins........ full story
  
• Saving The Threatened Tiburon Jewel Flower - 1 Of 200 Endangered Bay Area Plants (May 9, 2007) — KGO-TV San Francisco - By Wayne Freedman -- If the predictions of global warming come true, and the planet warms up by as much as nine degrees in the next century, up to a million species may become extinct. Some we will notice, the rest may suffer more quiet passings. One such species is holding out in the hills of Tiburon........ full story
  
• Supplying the World's Energy Needs with Light and Water (May 9, 2007) — Technology Review, MIT - By Kevin Bullis -- A leading chemist says that a better understanding of photosynthesis could lead to cheap ways to store solar energy as chemical fuel. While researchers and technologists around the world scramble to find cleaner sources of energy, some chemists are turning to nature's own elegant solution: photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, green plants use the energy in sunlight to break down water and carbon dioxide........ full story
  
• Encyclopedia of Life is launched (May 9, 2007) — ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH - By Eric Hand -- You can call it a Wikipedia for the web of life. Scientists today will unveil the Encyclopedia of Life, an ambitious effort to collect information for the 1.8 million known living things and make it publicly available on a website that allows visitors to contribute to entries........ full story
  
• Convergence of IT and Biotechnology Driving New Revolution in Agriculture (May 7, 2007) — YAHOO FINANCE - New Zealand Trade and Enterprise -- Controversies about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) may dominate the news, but engineering transgenic traits into plants and animals is really just a tiny part of the biotech-driven revolution in agriculture. According to a group of agbiotech experts, advances in modern biotechnologies such as genomics, bioinformatics and molecular biology are in fact moving the planet towards a sustainable bioeconomy future........ full story
  
• Discovery of Species Stalls Work (May 4, 2007) — RED ORBIT- By Preston Sparks -- A paving plan for a hilly spot in Colum-bia County on Burks Mountain Road is edging closer to a start, but it's not the only thing that will come to fruition in the area. A new species from the bean family, called Dixie Mountain Bread Root, has been discovered near a second portion of the dirt road scheduled for paving. The species might need to be moved before that part of the project can begin........ full story
  
• Plankton Species' Genome Analysis Yields Surprises Regarding Evolution And Global Photosynthesis (May 1, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Scripps Institution of Oceanography - UC San Diego -- An international team of scientists led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and the Department of Energy's (DOE) Joint Genome Institute has peered into the genetic makeup of two species of phytoplankton, the tiny plants key in global photosynthesis and carbon cycling, and come away with surprising results about evolutionary engineering and new ideas about the role that a poorly understood chemical element may play in the world's oceans........ full story
  
• Plants with male/bisexual flowers on the same plant are better mothers (May 1, 2007) — Eureka Alert -- What would be the opening chapter of the Kamasutra of plant sex? A good pick would be a description of the numerous ways in which plants arrange their sexual organs: from both sexes in the same flower to sexes separated in different flowers or individuals........ full story
  
• Attack of the killer worms (April 29, 2007) — Toronto Star - Leslie Scrivener -- Foreign invaders threaten saplings and trilliums. In the right place they're a boon. Home gardeners love to turn over the soil and see earthworms, knowing that the creatures transform organic matter like fallen leaves into plant nutrients. But in the wrong place........ full story
  
• Kaua'i attacking 'superweed' fern (April 29, 2007) — The Honolulu Advertiser - By Jan TenBruggencate, Advertiser Science Writer -- Forest restoration efforts on Kaua'i are focusing on eradicating an aggressive "superweed" through an unprecedented ground and air attack. The target: Australian tree ferns, which, like pale-green lace parasols, dot the landscape of central Kaua'i........ full story
  
• Cheaper ethanol closer to reality (April 29, 2007) — newkerala.com -- Cornell University researchers have discovered a new plant enzyme that could make the production of cellulosic ethanol less expensive. Scientists say the enzyme could potentially allow plant materials used to make ethanol to be broken down more efficiently than is possible using current technologies......... full story
  
• Rare corpse flower ripe for blooming (April 29, 2007) — Mankato Free Press - By Robb Murray -- This will be one flower you definitely don’t want a good whiff of. A Titan Arum, otherwise known as a Corpse Flower, is about to bloom at the Gustavus Adolphus College Biology Department’s greenhouse. The plant is expected to fully bloom sometime in early May, and when it does, it makes its presence via an aroma that has been compared to rotting meat........ full story
  
• Students Plant Trees to Honor Nobel Laureate (April 27, 2007) — Benedictine College -- When Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and 1964 alumna of Benedictine College spoke on campus on January 28, she talked about taking action. In her presentation, “Leadership, Activism, and the Benedictine Spirit,” Maathai used story-telling, humor, her Benedictine education background, and a lifetime of learning to encourage everyone to do what is right, regardless of politics......... full story
  
• Plant vault passes billion mark (April 26, 2007) — BBC News - By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website -- Britain's "Noah's Ark" for plants has just collected its billionth seed - The Millennium Seed Bank will present the seed, from an African bamboo, to Chancellor Gordon Brown, as it seeks funds to continue operating after 2010......... full story
  
• Scientists unlock secret of what makes plants flower (April 20, 2007) — Innovations Report -- A protein acting as a long-distance signal from leaf to shoot-tip tells plants when to flower, says new research published in Science Express today (Thursday 19 April 2007). The study reveals the likely mechanism by which the Arabidopsis plant flowers in response to changes in day length. Earlier research had shown that plants’ leaves perceived seasonal changes in day length, which triggers a long-distance signal to travel through the plant’s vascular system from the leaf to the shoot apex, where flowering is induced. However, the identity of the long-distance signal remained unclear......... full story
  
• Plant Growth: Two-protein Team Would Be Lost Without Each Other (April 20, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Duke University -- Just as a hard-charging person sometimes needs a calming partner to be more effective, so it is with a pair of critical proteins that promote cell division and growth in the rapidly expanding root tip of plants. One of the pair, a molecule called Scarecrow, physically restrains its highly influential counterpart from going farther than it should and doing more work than is needed......... full story
  
• Dr. David Baum: One of Three faculty chosen as Guggenheim fellows (April 19, 2007) — University of Wisconsin, Madison - by Madeline Fisher -- Three professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have received 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship Awards, which recognize artists, scholars and scientists based on distinguished past achievement and exceptional future promise......... full story
  
• Storm in a buttercup (April 19, 2007) — Chemistry World - John Bonner -- Botanists have spent 70 years puzzling over the identity of the chemical agent responsible for initiating the flowering process in plants. That mystery has now been solved by two separate research groups in Germany and Japan. At the same time, a Swedish team has been forced to withdraw a paper proposing an alternative theory, after finding that it was based on inaccurate data......... full story
  
• It's a scandal: Oklahoma declares watermelon a vegetable (April 18, 2007) — Guardian Unlimited - By Matthew Weaver and agencies -- Everywhere else it is considered a fruit, but in Oklahoma the watermelon has been officially declared a vegetable. And not just any vegetable, Oklahoma's house of representatives yesterday voted to award the watermelon the honour of official state vegetable. The official state fruit is the strawberry......... full story
  
• Green, Life-Giving and Forever Young (April 17, 2007) — New York Times - By NATALIE ANGIER -- According to Peter H. Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, many of us suffer from an insidious condition called “plant blindness.” We barely notice plants, can rarely identify them and find them incomparably inert. Do you think that you will ever see a coma as vegetative as a tree? “Animals are much more vivid to the average person than plants are,” Dr. Raven said, “and some people aren’t even sure that plants are alive.”........ full story
  
• Invasive Grass May Impede Forest Regeneration (April 11, 2007) — ScienceDaily - SRS, USDA Forest Servicey -- The nonnative invasive grass Microstegium vimineum may hinder the regeneration of woody species in southern forests. Chris and Sonja Oswalt (Forest Service Southern Research Station) and Wayne Clatterbuck (University of Tennessee) set up experiments on a mixed-hardwood forest in southwest Tennessee to study the growth of the invasive grass under different levels of forest disturbance........ full story
  
• Detecting Poisons In Nectar Is An Odorous Task For Honeybees (April 10, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Society for Experimental Biology -- Though many spring flowers have bright advertisements offering sweet rewards to honeybees, some common flowers have not-so-sweet or even toxic nectars Why plants would try to poison the honeybees they wish to attract is a scientific mystery. The honeybee, which accounts for the pollination of at least 1/3 of the world's crop plants, may encounter such poisoned nectar in common crop and garden plants such as Rhododendrons and almond trees........ full story
  
• Alum follows interest in chemical ecology to the top of his field (April 9, 2007) — UC Santa Cruz Current - By Tim Stephens -- As director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, Jonathan Gershenzon is still pursuing some of the same ideas that first fascinated him as an undergraduate at UCSC in the 1970s. Here he was taught and inspired by a formidable group of plant scientists on the biology faculty, including Jean Langenheim, now a professor emerita of ecology and evolutionary biology, Lincoln Taiz, professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology, and the late Harry Beevers and Kenneth Thimann........ full story
  
• Humans And Plants Share Common Regulatory Pathway (April 9, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Scripps Research Institute -- In findings that some might find reminiscent of science fiction, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that humans and plants share a common pathogen recognition pathway as part of their innate immune systems. The data could help shed fresh light on how pathogen recognition proteins function and the role they play in certain chronic inflammatory diseases........ full story
  
• Anthropologist Finds Earliest Evidence Of Maize Farming In Mexico (April 10, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Florida State University -- A Florida State University anthropologist has new evidence that ancient farmers in Mexico were cultivating an early form of maize, the forerunner of modern corn, about 7,300 years ago - 1,200 years earlier than scholars previously thought....... full story
  
• Discovery of 'Master Switch' for communication between chloroplast and nuclei of plants (April 6, 2007) — ScienceDaily - University of Nevada, Reno -- Scientists have puzzled for years in understanding how plants pass signals of stress, due to lack of water or salinity, from chloroplast to nuclei. They know that chloroplasts -- the cellular organelles that give plants their green color -- have at least three different signals that can indicate a plant is under stress....... full story
  
• Beatrix Potter, scientist (April 6, 2007) — TheScientist - By Manasee Wagh -- The acclaimed children's book author also was an ahead-of-her-time botanist. The Lake District in northwest England is a verdant expanse of rolling grassy countryside, dotted with trees and lakes, and surrounded by mountains. This idyllic landscape inspired Beatrix Potter to craft her famous children's book illustrations about Peter Rabbit and other woodland creatures, but it also fueled her other, less well-known, passion -- botany........ full story
  
• Climate change fruitful for fungi (April 5, 2007) — BBC News - By Richard Black -- A remarkable father-and-son research project has revealed how rising temperatures are affecting fungi in southern England. Fungus enthusiast Edward Gange amassed 52,000 sightings of mushroom and toadstools during walks around Salisbury over a 50-year period....... full story
  
• Volunteers Foster Science Fun in B.C. Schools (April 5, 2007) — The University of British Columbia -- Young scientists at UBC are donning their lab coats in elementary schools and showing kids how fun -- and rewarding -- science can be. Established in 1996, the UBC Let’s Talk Science Partnership Program (LTS) matches UBC science students with elementary and high school teachers across B.C. to augment their curriculum with hands-on science experiments and one-on-one mentorship........ full story
  
• Magnolias face 'perilous future' (April 1, 2007) — BBC News -- The spectacular bloom of a magnolia may be a very common sight in gardens but in the wild, it is a different story. A new report has found that over half the world's magnolia species are facing extinction in their forest habitats....... full story
  
• Scientists pinpoint proteins that direct plant growth, development (March 28, 2007) — checkbiotech.org -- An international team of researchers has discovered that two types of plant proteins are at work in the transport of an important growth hormone, a finding that could have applications in creating plants with specific characteristics........ full story
  
• Corn can't solve our problem (March 27, 2007) — checkbiotech.org - David Tilman & Jason Hill -- The world has come full circle. A century ago our first transportation biofuels -- the hay and oats fed to our horses -- were replaced by gasoline. Today, ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soybeans have begun edging out gasoline and diesel........ full story
  
• Global Warming Predicted to Create Novel Climates (March 27, 2007) — Environment News Service -- Many current climate zones will vanish entirely by the year 2100, replaced by climates unknown today, according to new global warming research. The greatest changes are predicted for Amazonian and Indonesian rainforests, but areas such as the southeastern and western United States, northwestern Australia, and the Arabian Peninsula also would be affected........ full story
  
• Sex, botany and loathsome harlotry (March 6, 2007) — Batemans Bay Post, Environment - Rosslyn Beeby -- THE POPE banned his work and London's elite circle of science aristocrats dismissed his botanical classification system as "too smutty for English ears", unspeakably vulgar and "enough to shock female modesty". The 19th-century Swedish botanist and physician Carl Linnaeus is regarded as the father of taxonomy, developing a system for naming and classifying plants and animals that, he boasted, was so straightforward that even women could understand it........ full story
  
• Too much water, fertilizer bad for plant diversity (March 28, 2007) — innovations report, Forum für Wissenschaft, Industrie und Wirtschaft -- Study shows that polluted ecosystems support a limited number of species. Too much of multiple good things – water or nutrients, for example – may decrease the diversity of plant life in an ecosystem while increasing the productivity of a few species, a UC Irvine scientist has discovered........ full story
  
• New Maps of Plant Diversity Show Global Richness Patterns (March 20, 2007) — Environment News Service -- A new global set of maps of plant diversity offers clues to the likely impact of climate change on the services plants provide to humans. With several hundred thousand plant species plotted, the scientists who created the maps say they are the most extensive to date........ full story
  
• Biodiversity 'fundamental' to economics (March 9, 2007) — BBC News, VIEWPOINT - Sigmar Gabriel -- Germany has put biodiversity, alongside climate change, at the top the agenda for its G8 presidency. In this week's Green Room, Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel says failure to address the loss of species will make the world a poorer place - both naturally and economically........ full story
  
• Biologists Develop Large Gene Dataset For Rice Plant (March 14, 2007) — ScienceDaily, source - National Science Foundation -- Scientists have reported development of a large dataset of gene sequences in rice. The information will lead to an increased understanding of how genes work in rice, an essential food for much of the world's population........ full story
  
• Duke University researchers try to root out acid rain problem (March 14, 2007) — The Hearld Sun -- A new understanding of how plants manage their internal calcium levels could potentially lead to genetically engineering plants to avoid damage from acid rain, which robs soil of much of its calcium. ....... full story
  
• Researchers Reveal Dwarf Aquatic Plants' Hidden Ancestry (March 14, 2007) — ScienceDaily, source - University Of British Columbia -- A team of UBC researchers has re-classified an ancient line of aquatic plants previously thought to be related to grasses and rushes. The discovery clarifies what may be one of the biggest misunderstandings in botanical history. ....... full story
  
• Disease Opened Door To Invading Species In California (March 14, 2007) — Medical News Today -- Plant and animal diseases can play a major and poorly appreciated role in allowing the invasion of exotic species, which in turn often threatens biodiversity, ecological function and the world economy, researchers say in a new report. In particular, a plant pathogen appears to have opened the gate for the successful invasion of non-native grasses into much of California, one of the world's largest documented cases of invading species and one that dramatically changed the history and ecology of a vast grassland ecosystem. ....... full story
  
• Scientists Find Genes Involved in the Battle Between Hessian Flies and Wheat (March 7, 2007) — newswise, source - Purdue University -- Wheat has ways to battle Hessian fly larvae that nibble on the plant's leaves and can destroy crops worldwide, but the larvae that survive eventually evolve methods to overcome plant defenses. Purdue University and USDA-Agriculture Research Service scientists trying to thwart the insect have identified genes that nullify toxins that wheat produces to protect itself from the munching larvae........ full story
  
• Plant Size Morphs Dramatically as Scientists Tinker with Outer Layer (March 7, 2007) — newswise, source - Salk Institute for Biological Studies -- Jack’s magical beans may have produced beanstalks that grew and grew into the sky, but something about normal, run-of-the-mill plants limits their reach upward. For more than a century, scientists have tried to find out which part of the plant both drives and curbs growth, and the answer could have great implications for modern agriculture, which desires a modern magical bean or two........ full story
  
• New Success In Engineering Plant Oils (March 6, 2007) — ScienceDaily, source - Brookhaven National Laboratory -- Using genetic manipulation to modify the activity of a plant enzyme, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have converted an unsaturated oil in the seeds of a temperate plant to the more saturated kind usually found in tropical plants. The research will be published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of March 5, 2007........ full story
  
• Forest Replacing Tundra at Rapid Rate (March 5, 2007) — newswise, source - University of Alberta -- Forests of spruce trees and shrubs in parts of northern Canada are taking over what were once tundra landscapes--forcing out the species that lived there. This shift can happen at a much faster speed than scientists originally thought, according to a new University of Alberta study that adds to the growing body of evidence on the effects of climate change........ full story
  
• UH selects Chicago botanist as director of Lyon Arboretum (February 23, 2007) — Star-Bulletin, staff -- The University of Hawaii at Manoa has selected a botanist from Chicago to be the new director of the Lyon Arboretum. Christopher Dunn, currently executive director for research programs and Smith family curator of native habitats at the Chicago Botanic Garden, will assume his new position in April, according to a UH-Manoa news release........ full story
  
• Plant scientist develops new tool to protect crops from modified genes (February 23, 2007) — UConn Advance, by Beth Krane -- UConn plant biologists have developed a tool that may help alleviate public concerns surrounding genetically-modified plants. Controlling the flow of transgenic genes into the wild via pollen and seeds has been a huge concern to the public and a major challenge for scientists specializing in agricultural biotechnology........ full story
  
• Population pressure shapes urban parks (February 23, 2007) — State College, PA -- A study of 10 Northeastern urban forests shows no sign that there is a common urban park plant complex, but does show that population levels affect both native and nonnative species diversity, according to a Penn State study........ full story
  
• Can wild grass produce clean fuel? (February 13, 2007) — NDnet, by Roland Piquepaille -- As many other countries, the U.S. want to reduce their dependency on oil by increasing the production of renewable and alternative fuels. Today, the main source of biofuel is ethanol distilled from kernels of corn, with a production of 5 billion gallons a year. As current targets for biofuels have been pushed to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012 and 35 in 2017, using corn ethanol alone would require to convert the combined size of Kansas and Iowa into farmland........ full story
  
• Nature's exquisite details - Botanical illustrations more than just pretty pictures (February 24, 2007) — SouthBendTribune.com, By VIRGINIA A. SMITH, The Philadelphia Inquirer -- It once had the reputation of being a girlish kind of art -- too "pretty," not serious -- and there's still a lot of schlock out there. But classic botanical illustration bears no resemblance to those flower pictures you see on powder-room walls. The real stuff is pure, exquisitely natural, and true to life, pulling you deep inside the ruffly petals of a pink parrot tulip or the velvety throat of a plum-colored foxglove........ full story
  
• Research nurtures seeds of fall foliage revolution (February 19, 2007) — Las Cruces Sun News, By New Mexico State University -- It's a difficult process to reproduce hard maples, but researchers at New Mexico State University studying the bigtooth maple as a landscape ornamental plant have developed a micropropagation method that has a better success rate than traditional methods........ full story
  
• Mystery ailment strikes honeybees; could affect crop pollination (February 13, 2007) — phillyBurbs.com, By GENARO C. ARMAS AP -- A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening the livelihood of commercial beekeepers and sending researchers scrambling to find answers. The ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder, could affect domestic honey production in the United States and, perhaps even more importantly, put a strain on fruit growers and other farmers who rely on bees to pollinate their crops........ full story
  
• Judge sides with botanist on pot supply (February 13, 2007) — San Francisco Chronicle, by Bob Egelko -- A Massachusetts botanist should be allowed to grow marijuana for medical study, a hearing officer said Monday in a ruling that would end a longtime government requirement that all federally approved researchers get their pot supplies from the University of Mississippi........ full story
  
• New mechanism for nutrient uptake discovered (February 11, 2007) — The Carnegie Institution of Washington -- Biologists at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Plant Biology have discovered a new way that plant cells govern nutrient regulation—neighboring pore-like structures at the cell’s surface physically interact to control the uptake of a vital nutrient, nitrogen. It is the first time scientists have found that the interaction of neighboring molecules is essential to this regulation........ full story
  
• Dr. Hardy Eshbaugh named as Distinguished Economic Botanist (April 11, 2007) — Society for Economic Botany -- Dr. Will McClatchey, President of the Society for Economic Botany, announced today that Dr. W. Hardy Eshbaugh is the recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Economic Botanist Award, the society's highest honor for professionals. He will be honored June 7th in a formal ceremony during the society's annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. ....... full story
  
• Half-Billion-Dollar Bonanza for Plant Scientists (February 1, 2007) — ScienceNOW Daily News, by Eli Kintisch -- A new $500 million biofuels institute will be built at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, with funds from BP, the oil giant announced today. The award marks a new era for plant scientists and a new commitment by the fossil fuel giant toward renewable energy science. "We are joining with some of the world's best science and engineering talent to meet the world's demand for low-carbon energy," said Bob Malone, chair and president of BP America, in a prepared statement........ full story
  
• Scientists Criticize White House Stance on Climate Change Findings (January 31, 2007) — New York Times, By CORNELIA DEAN -- Under its new Democratic chairman, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform took on the Bush administration’s handling of climate change science yesterday, and even the Republicans on the panel had little good to say about the administration’s actions........ full story
  
• Scientists Criticize White House Stance on Climate Change Findings (January 31, 2007) — New York Times, By CORNELIA DEAN -- Under its new Democratic chairman, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform took on the Bush administration’s handling of climate change science yesterday, and even the Republicans on the panel had little good to say about the administration’s actions........ full story
  
• Once a Dream Fuel, Palm Oil May Be an Eco-Nightmare (January 31, 2007) — New York Times, By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL -- Just a few years ago, politicians and environmental groups in the Netherlands were thrilled by the early and rapid adoption of “sustainable energy,” achieved in part by coaxing electrical plants to use biofuel — in particular, palm oil from Southeast Asia. Spurred by government subsidies, energy companies became so enthusiastic that they designed generators that ran exclusively on the oil, which in theory would be cleaner than fossil fuels like coal because it is derived from plants. But last year, when scientists studied practices at palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, this green fairy tale began to look more like an environmental nightmare. ....... full story
  
• In the Rockies, Pines Die and Bears Feel It (January 30, 2007) — New York Times, By CHARLES PETIT -- Jesse Logan retired in July as head of the beetle research unit for the United States Forest Service at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Utah. He is an authority on the effects of temperature on insect life cycles. That expertise has landed him smack in the middle of a debate over protecting grizzly bears. Dr. Logan enters the fray on the question of what grizzly bears eat, how much of it will be available in the future, and where. All that, he says, hinges on the mountain pine beetle and the whitebark pine........ full story
  
• BSA k-14 Teacher Member Matt Diller named as 2007 "GREEN HERO" (January 29, 2007) — Earthways Center -- This St. Louis Green Hero has been actively cultivating future generations of environmental guardians for nearly twenty years, including a dozen years teaching third grade at The College School. Matt Diller brings his own curiosity about the natural world into his classroom - and his students catch this lifelong learning bug! ....... full story
  
• Fun teachers and family boost student towards biology career (January 29, 2007) — MSU News, By Carol Flaherty -- How does a person become a scientist? It helps to have someone, or several someones, who make science fun until you can see the beauty of it for yourself. Tami Jo Old Coyote has had several someones, from a mustachioed man nicknamed "Mario" who visited her Lodge Grass Elementary School class and teacher Paul Takas at Hardin High School, to mentor Kathi Trujillo at Montana State University. Together with a supportive family, an inquisitive nature and hard work, the MSU senior now finds herself aiming at some aspect of science as a future occupation........ full story
  
• Incubator and autoclave - Farm girls take on ambitious science projects (January 26, 2007) — Magicvalley.com, The Times-News, By Virginia S. Hutchins -- Put a couple of farm girls fascinated by living things into a high school with a dynamic science teacher and grant-funded lab equipment, and you just might get senior projects on plant propagation and embryonic transplants. "We want them to experience what real science and research are," said Edward Richards, a science teacher at Filer High School. ....... full story
  
• UVSC herbarium a click away (January 25, 2007) — Deseret Morning News, By Laura Hancock -- U.S. science grant funded 12,000-specimen Web site. The Web site was developed by biology professor Jim Harris and chemistry professor Bruce Wilson with a three-year, $120,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Actually, anyone — from botany researchers to curious folks with green thumbs — can unearth such facts about Kingdom Plantae at Utah Valley State College's Virtual Herbarium at herbarium.uvsc.edu. ....... full story
  
• Killer grass invades S.C., Marion National Forest (January 22, 2007) — StarNewsOnline.com -- The Francis Marion National Forest has a foreign invader and it's killing everything around it. The invader is called cogongrass and "it's even worse than kudzu," said Jean Everett, a College of Charleston biology instructor who discovered three patches last month deep in the forest. ....... full story
  
• Students grow endangered plants to help restore ecosystems, learn about botany (January 20, 2007) — Corvallis Gazette-Times, By KYLE ODEGARD -- Philomath High School senior Logan Bernart spent his lunchtime Wednesday looking over a college-level research paper, and spraying water on hundreds of seedlings in the school’s greenhouse. These weren’t tomatoes or some garden plant, though. The tiny stems were Kincaid’s lupine, listed as threatened by the federal government. ....... full story
  
• Algae with their own sun block (January 19, 2007) — Innovations Report, Forum für Wissenschaft, Industrie und Wirtschaf -- Phlorotannins are chemical compounds that exist in kelp, and according to previous research they are able to function as defense substances for these brown algae. A dissertation from Göteborg University in Sweden now shows that phlorotannins should be able to function as a sun block when the algae are exposed to harmful UVB radiation. ....... full story
  
• The Terra Ficaria Prize: preserving and managing the plant world (January 19, 2007) — Innovations Report, Forum für Wissenschaft, Industrie und Wirtschaft -- Cassava and all clonally propagated plants (reproduced from cuttings) allow farmers the possibility of selecting and propagating the best plants in their fields. However, these copies of plants, made over several generations, bring a major risk: a reduction in genetic diversity, which can in turn lead to the loss of the plant's adaptability to its environment. Nevertheless, Amerindian communities have managed to preserve the biodiversity of the cassava ....... full story
  
• Big vegetarian mammals can play a critical role in maintaining healthy ecosystems (January 18, 2007) — Innovations Report, Forum für Wissenschaft, Industrie und Wirtschaf -- Removing large herbivorous mammals from the African savanna can cause a dramatic shift in the relative abundance of species throughout the food chain, according to scientists from Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California-Davis. Their findings were published in the Jan. 2 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). ....... full story
  
• Academy Honors 18 for Major Contributions to Science (January 17, 2007) — NEWS The National Academies -- John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science – a medal and a prize of $25,000 awarded annually for noteworthy and distinguished accomplishment in any field of science (plant science in 2007) – goes to Joseph R. Ecker, professor, plant biology laboratory and genomic analysis laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif., "for contributions in the areas of ethylene signal transduction and Arabidopsis genomics that have paved the way for a revolution in modern agriculture." The award was established by the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in honor of John J. Carty and has been awarded since 1932. ....... full story
  
• Giant Stinky Mystery Flower is Classified…and has surprisingly normal relatives (January 11, 2007) — Science Friday News -- Rafflesia (Rafflesiaceae)—a parasitic plant whose flower weighs more than a bowling ball and reeks of rotting flesh—has finally found its family, according to a Brevia published in the journal Science. Found on rainforest floors in southern Asia, rafflesia has baffled botanists for two centuries. It is hard to classify because it is rootless, shootless and leafless; it only has a sinewy stem which it uses to siphon the nutrients and water it needs from the host plant it parasitizes. ....... full story
  
• UK crop science gets £13m boost (January 10, 2007) — BBC News -- British crop scientists have been awarded £13.3m for a series of research projects, including one aimed at keeping broccoli greener for longer. The University of Warwick team will analyse DNA from the vegetable in an attempt to improve its shelf life. ....... full story
  
• Greening of the Earth (Observations - Global) -- Summary (January 9, 2007) — UCRiverside Newsroom -- How have earth's terrestrial plants responded - on average and in their entirety - to the atmospheric temperature and CO2 increases of the past quarter-century? Because of the large number of studies that have addressed this subject, we are treating it on a continent-by-continent basis. In this summary, however, we report the results of studies that have looked at either the world as a whole or groups of more than two continents at the same time........ full story
  
• UCR Researchers Examine How Some Invasive Plants Gain a Foothold (January 8, 2007) — UCRiverside Newsroom -- Plant geneticist Norman Ellstrand leads an experiment that points out how controlling sexual compatibility can help control the spread of some invasive species........ full story
  
• In two words, name a swede (January 7, 2007) — TimesOnline, by Anjana Ahuja -- Carl Linnaeus was the godfather of pedantry. Born 300 years ago to a Swedish, plant-loving clergyman, the young boy eschewed the priesthood for medicine, specialising in the treatment of syphilis. Botany, and the derivation of medicines from plants, was then central to the training of all physicians; for Linnaeus, however, the plants themselves flowered into an obsession........ full story
  
• Cheeseman's Flora 1906 (January 4, 2007) — HULIQ.com -- Thomas Frederick Cheeseman (FLS, FZS, FNZI — 1845-1923) was the Auckland Institute and Museum botanist and sole Curator for nearly 50 years (1874-1923). He was one of New Zealand’s greatest botanists, and the first flora writer with a New Zealand education........ full story
  
• Florida Museum Plant Scientists Receive Award For Outstanding Service (January 3, 2007) — HULIQ.com -- Florida Museum of Natural History scientists Doug and Pam Soltis and David Dilcher, and William Stern, University of Florida Botany Professor Emeritus, recently received centennial awards from the Botanical Society of America for their outstanding service to the plant sciences and the society. ....... full story
  
• Scientists Develop Method To Find Genetic Basis For Plant Variation (January 2, 2007) — ScienceDaily, source - Purdue University -- A new research approach that allowed scientists to rapidly identify the gene responsible for high sodium levels in certain naturally occurring plant populations could have applications for the study of a wide variety of other important plant properties........ full story
  
• Plants receive their due in new exhibit (January 1, 2007) — Ithaca Journal, By Michelle King -- Earth itself would be uninhabitable without them. Yet, most people are unaware of the presence of plants and their ever-changing adaptability to the environment, said creators of a collaborative exhibition — sLowlife — that began Dec. 23 and is being showcased through April 1 at the Museum of the Earth........ full story
  
• 2006 Is Banner Year For Discoveries Of New Species In Borneo's Rainforests (December 22, 2006) — ScienceDaily, source - World Wildlife Fund -- Scientists have discovered at least 52 new species of animals and plants this past year on the island of Borneo. The discoveries, described in a new WWF report, include 30 unique fish species, two tree frog species, 16 ginger species, three tree species and one large-leafed plant species. ....... full story
  
• Extreme Autumn Temperatures Cause Unseasonable Flowering In The Netherlands (December 22, 2006) — ScienceDaily, source - Wageningen University -- Observers in the Netherlands reported that more than 240 wild plant species were flowering in December, along with more than 200 cultivated species. According to biologist Arnold van Vliet of Wageningen University, this unseasonable flowering is being caused by extremely high autumn temperatures. ....... full story
  
• Biotech Could Help Double Level of Corn Yields by 2030 (December 14, 2006) — WisconsinAgConnection, USAgNet.com -- Advances in seed breeding could allow U.S. farmers to double corn yields by 2030, reaching a national average yield of 300 bushels per acre, a seed researcher said on Thursday........ full story
  
• Biotech cotton won't ease hunger but may ease poverty (December 12, 2006) — STLtoday.com, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, By Eric Hand -- Biotech cotton won't solve hunger. But Mbijjewe contends that it will raise millions of African farmers out of poverty — especially if U.S. and European cotton subsidies decline and world prices rise........ full story
  
• St. Louis team fights crop killer in Africa (December 9, 2006) — STLtoday.com, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, By Eric Hand -- The sleepy main street of Nakitoma, with its pancake seller and bicycle repairman, is little different from that of other provincial towns — just a flash of weathered, empty storefronts on the pocked road. It is a forgettable place, except for one thing: It is the epicenter of a pandemic whose shock waves still are ravaging Africa. Not AIDS. Not malaria. Not tuberculosis. But something just as destructive........ full story
  
• Closure of 6 federal libraries angers scientists (December 8, 2006) — LA Times, by Tim Reiterman -- The NASA library in Greenbelt, Md., was part of John C. Mather's daily routine for years leading up to the astrophysicist's sharing of the 2006 Nobel Prize for shedding new light on the big bang theory of creation. He researched existing space hardware and instrumentation there while designing a satellite that collected data for his prize-winning discovery. So when he learned that federal officials were planning to close the library, Mather was stunned........ full story
  
• Tearing Down The Fungal Cell Wall (December 7, 2006) — ScienceDaily, via Virginia Tech -- Scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute and Duke University Medical Center have pinpointed a fungal gene that appears to play an important role in the development and virulence of Alternaria brassicicola. A. brassicicola, a destructive fungal pathogen that causes black spot disease on most cultivated Brassica crops worldwide, results in considerable leaf loss in many economically important crops including canola, cabbage and broccoli........ full story
  
• Global Warming Is Reducing Ocean Life, Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (December 6, 2006) — University of California, Santa Barbara -- Alarming new satellite data show that the warming of the world's oceans is reducing ocean life while contributing to increased global warming. The ocean's food chain is based upon the growth of billions upon billions of microscopic plants. New satellite data show that ocean warming is reducing these plants ---- thus imperiling ocean fisheries and marine life........ full story
  
• South Africa unveils R6bn biofuels plan (December 6, 2006) — Fin24, Reuters Press -- South Africa wants biofuels to contribute up to 75% of renewable energy needs by 2013 under a R6bn programme, a government spokesperson said on Thursday........ full story
  
• Dr. Joe E. Winstead Receives 2006 Elizabeth Ann Bartholomew Award (December 1, 2006) — Southern Appalachian Botanical Society -- The Southern Appalachian Botanical Society annually presents the Elizabeth Ann Bartholomew Award in memory of her untiring service to the public, to plant systematics, and to this organization. This award is presented to individuals who have also distinguished themselves in professional and public service that advances out knowledge and appreciation of the world of plants and their scientific, cultural, and aesthetic values, and/or exceptional service to the society........ full story
  
• UNC's moving away from natural sciences - Plant specimens donated to Mecklenburg County (December 6, 2006) — Charlotte Observer, CARRIE LEVINE -- UNC Charlotte is donating its collection of Piedmont plant and flower specimens to Mecklenburg County. The school's biology department is moving away from natural sciences, part of a national shift to other types of research. The space the collection takes up is needed for other things........ full story
  
• A biologist appeals to evangelicals to find out if Creation can evolve and survive (November 25, 2006) — Nashua Telegraph, By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press -- Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson might normally arouse suspicion among evangelicals, given his faith in science over Scripture. But in his latest book, “The Creation, An Appeal to Save Life on Earth,” the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner extends an olive branch to Christian believers in hopes of saving the Earth from the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs........ full story
  
• The revolution in botany (November 24, 2006) — BBC News -- The science of botany is about to undergo a revolution. After more than two hundred years of classifying plants on the basis of what they look like, botanists will soon be grouping and categorising plants according to similarities in their genetic material, DNA........ full story
  
• Crossing Wild and Conventional Wheat Boosts Protein, Avoids Genetic Modification (November 24, 2006) — Scientific America, Science News -- Humanity has been growing wheat as a staple crop for thousands of years, and we currently grow 620 million tons of the grain annually. During that span, however, its nutrition has largely not improved; in fact, it may have declined. But by returning to wheat's wild roots....... full story
  
• Planting the future, one tree at a time (November 23, 2006) — LA Times, By Emily Green -- As the grand canopies of our streets and gardens die out, shade lovers unite. The goal: A careful arbor strategy for the generations to come........ full story
  
• Tigers to Mosquitos: Study Shows Value of "Top Predators" (November 20, 2006) — University Communications, University of Vermont -- Research by Nick Gotelli, professor of biology, looks to the nothern pitcher plant for answers to some critical questions about why major changes in populations occur throughout the food web........ full story
  
• Got cotton? Texas researchers' discovery could yield protein to feed millions (November 20, 2006) — EurekaAlert, Kathleen Phillips -- A scientific method used to explore cancer and HIV cures now has been successfully used by agricultural researchers in the quest to develop food for the world's hungry........ full story
  
• New moth variety disarms plants guarded by selenium (November 20, 2006) — EurekaAlert, Heidi Hardman -- In new work, researchers report that the ability of plants to defend themselves by accumulating high levels of a toxic element can be overcome by some insects, and that such adaptation potentially echoes in the food web as other predators and parasites may in turn evolve to deal with high levels of the toxic element........ full story
  
• Scientists show how plants ensure that flowers are formed at the right time and place (November 16, 2006) — New Materials International via MagentaNews -- A breakthrough in understanding how flowers form, is reported by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen, Germany, and the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK. In an article published in the international journal "Science", they show how a small molecule that is made in leaves is able to induce the formation of flowers at the growing tip of a plant. Because flowers in turn make fruits and seeds, including cereal grains, this new knowledge could have important applications in crop plants. ....... full story
  
• DuPont soybean genetic marker technology speeds yield enhancement (November 16, 2006) — Checkingbiotech.org via MagentaNews -- A review of historical U.S. soybean yield gains confirms that new molecular breeding tools are increasing the pace at which farmers can increase the amount of soybeans harvested from an acre. ....... full story
  
• Transgenic pastures promoted at grasslands conference (November 15, 2006) — Radio New Zealand via MagentaNews -- AgResearch head Andy West says New Zealand must turn to genetic engineering to preserve global biodiversity and the country's trade in primary products. ....... full story
  
• 1115 jeffery (November 15, 2006) — The Daily Herald via MagentaNews -- Gregor Mendel, as virtually everybody knows, studied the patterns of inheritance by crossing different types of peas. In so doing he became the only person to establish a distinct science all by himself. ....... full story
  
• Tomatoes against drought (November 14, 2006) — Checking Biotech.org, University of Basel via MagentaNews -- Without water there is no life, but even in deserts, where water is rarely available, life is possible. How? A research team in Connecticut asked the same question in their quest to produce a drought resistant tomatoes. ....... full story
  
• Sino-US exploration team completes a biodiversity survey in western Sichuan (November 14, 2006) — Chinese Academy of Sciences -- With the joint support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and U.S. National Science Foundation, a Sino-US biodiversity exploration team, making up of researches from the CAS Kuming Institute of Botany (KIB), Harvard University, Field Museum in Chicago and California Academy of Sciences, has recently completed its field trip to the hinterland of the Hengduan Mountain Range northwestern Yuannan and western Sichuan........ full story
  
• Why do insects like to eat some plants more than others? (November 13, 2006) — EurekAlert! -- In a study appearing in the forthcoming issue of The American Naturalist, Tom E. X. Miller, Andrew J. Tyre, and Svata M. Louda (all of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln) examined herbivore dynamics, specifically why plants aren't all eaten at the same rate. ....... full story
  
• Plant-derived molecules, genetic manipulation point to future chemoprevention methods (November 13, 2006) — EurekAlert! -- Scientists are using genetic studies and natural chemicals, such as plant-derived triterpenoids, to further our knowledge on how genetic and early molecular interactions can lead to cancer, and how those early interactions can be manipulated to stave off a variety of cancers. ....... full story
  
• Common Ancestry Of Bacterium And Plants Could Be Key To An Effective New Treatment For Chlamydia (November 10, 2006) — Science Daily -- Rutgers researchers have discovered that the Chlamydia bacterium, which causes a sexually transmitted disease (STD), shares an evolutionary heritage with plants. That shared evolutionary heritage, which is not found in most other bacteria, points to a prime target for development of an effective cure for Chlamydia infections. ....... full story
  
• South Salem’s Scott Mori wins prestigious botany award (November 9, 2006) — The Lewisboro Ledger, By MAUREEN KOEHL -- How do you recognize an explorer when you meet one? Probably the image of a sunburned, wind-burned face trapped in a wolf fur parka or a head crowned by an Indiana Jones fedora come most readily to mind. The familiar perception of an explorer carries with it adventure, hard work, a crew of helpers and a spirit of derring-do. Well, put most of these thoughts aside and prepare to meet South Salem’s Dr. Scott Mori, a world-respected plant explorer and a renowned expert on the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae). ....... full story
  
• Nature's Process For Nitrogen Fixation Caught In Action (November 9, 2006) — Science Daily -- Nitrogen gas is converted to ammonia fertilizer by a chemical process that involves high temperature and high pressure. Nature does the same thing at ambient temperature and pressure. The process, called nitrogen fixation, is essential to life as it provides nutrients to plant life. ....... full story
  
• Researchers Link Ocean Organisms With Increased Cloud Cover And Potential Climate Change (November 9, 2006) — Science Daily -- Atmospheric scientists have reported a new and potentially important mechanism by which chemical emissions from ocean phytoplankton may influence the formation of clouds that reflect sunlight away from our planet. ....... full story
  
• Country's plant species under threat (November 9, 2006) — The Hindu -- Around 15 per cent of the country's plant wealth is under threat and this poses a major concern to the eco-system, an academic said on Thursday........ full story
  
• Green Plants Share Bacterial Toxin (November 8, 2006) — Science Daily -- A toxin that can make bacterial infections turn deadly is also found in higher plants, researchers at UC Davis, the Marine Biology Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass. and the University of Nebraska have found. Lipid A, the core of endotoxin, is located in the chloroplasts, structures that carry out photosynthesis within plant cells. ....... full story
  
• Vaccine-producing 'Plant-factories' (November 8, 2006) — Science Daily -- A research team at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) has discovered a new route for the transport of proteins in plant cells, a discovery that will enable the biotechnological design of plant factories. ....... full story
  
• Old Discovery Could Boost Ethanol Production From Plant Fiber (November 8, 2006) — Science Daily -- John Verkade remembers just how it happened some 40 years ago: One of his Iowa State University graduate students, David Hendricker, stopped by to report somebody was stealing a little wooden applicator stick from a beaker. ....... full story
  
• Plant Studies Reveal How, Where Seeds Store Iron (November 6, 2006) — Science Daily -- Biologists have learned where and how some plant seeds store iron, a valuable discovery for scientists working to improve the iron content of plants. Their research helps address the worldwide problem of iron deficiency and malnutrition in humans. ....... full story
  
• Common Garden Plant Threatened By Climate Change (September 20, 2006) — Science Daily -- Cyclamen, a common, pretty garden flower, is at risk of extinction because of climate change. ....... full story
  
• Seeds 200 years old breathe again (September 19, 2006) — Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News website -- Seeds which have been stored away since the time of George III have been persuaded into new life. Scientists from the Millennium Seed Bank, operated by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, have induced seeds from three species to germinate. ....... full story
  
• Plants Give Up Answers In The War On Bacteria (September 18, 2006) — Science Daily -- Back-to-back scientific papers are offering a revolutionary look at the battlefield on which plant diseases are fought – and often lost – to bacteria. The laboratory of Sheng Yang He at Michigan State University has changed the textbook description of a plant’s surface terrain and is unveiling new knowledge of how bacterial pathogens invade plants and take hold. ....... full story
  
• Team Describes Unique Desert Cloud Forest (September 18, 2006) — Science Daily -- Trees that live in an odd desert forest in Oman have found an unusual way to water themselves by extracting moisture from low-lying clouds, MIT scientists report. ....... full story
  
• State seeding growing number of highway medians with wildflowers (September 16, 2006) — RICK CALLAHAN, Associated Press, The News~Sentinel -- Carpets of wildflowers and native grasses are sprouting along a growing number of Indiana's highways under a state program that replaces roadside turf with colorful plants that reduce mowing costs while creating new wildlife habitat........ full story
  
• First Tree Genome Published: Cracking Poplar DNA Code Promises New Possibilities For Sustainable Energy (September 15, 2006) — Science Daily -- Sustainable or renewable energy -- in the form of bio-ethanol, for example -- can be produced for us by trees. The influence trees have on our daily life is enormous. Forests cover 30% of the world's land area, accommodate two thirds of life on earth, and are responsible for 90% of the biomass on solid ground. ....... full story
  
• After Insects Attack, Plants Bunker Sugars For Later Regrowth (September 7, 2006) — Science Daily -- Using radioactive carbon and genetically modified native tobacco plants (Nicotiana attenuata), scientists at Max Planck Institutes in Jena and Golm (Potsdam) and at the Research Centre in Jülich have discovered the first gene mediating tolerance to herbivore attack: GAL83, the beta-subunit of Nicotiana attenuata’s SNF-1 related kinase. ....... full story
  
• Spread Of Plant Diseases By Insects Can Be Described By Equations That Model Interplanetary Gravity (September 5, 2006) — Science Daily -- Researchers from Penn State University and the University of Virginia show that the spread of diseases by insects can be described by equations similar to those that describe the force of gravity between planetary objects. Their findings are detailed in the September issue of The American Naturalist. ....... full story
  
• Fight Weeds With Plant Pathogens (September 4, 2006) — Science Daily -- Although plant pathogens are typically viewed as detrimental, plant pathologists with the American Phytopathological Society (APS) say plant pathogens may be a successful, eco-friendly tool for managing weeds. ....... full story
  
• Landscape Corridors Promote Plant Diversity By Preventing Species Loss (September 4, 2006) — Science Daily -- Landscape corridors – thin strips of habitat that connect isolated patches of habitat – are lifelines for native plants that live in the connected patches and therefore are a useful tool for conserving biodiversity. ....... full story
  
• Picky Plants: Do They "Choose" The Best Fungal Partner? (August 9, 2006) — Science Daily -- Every time we make a choice, whether between job offers in two different cities or about what to have for dinner, evaluating the costs and benefits of each option is part of the process. Researchers at the University of Michigan are finding that the ability to actively select one option over another may no longer be reserved for higher animals; in fact, plants may make choices too. ....... full story
  
• Aquatic Plants May Hold Key To Advancing Plant Disease Management (July 6, 2006) — Science Daily -- The way aquatic plants respond to plant disease and climate change may have applications for managing land-based agriculture. ....... full story
  
• New Research May Reduce Global Need For Nitrogen Fertilizers (June 29, 2006) — Science Daily -- Research published June 29 in the journal Nature reveals how scientists at the John Innes Centre (JIC), Norwich and Washington State University, USA have managed to trigger nodulation in legumes, a key element of the nitrogen fixing process, without the bacteria normally necessary. ....... full story
  
• Plant Pathologists Explore Using Fungi To Control Plant Diseases (June 15, 2006) — Science Daily -- The use of endophytes, non-harmful fungi, bacteria, or viruses that naturally grow inside plants, is an emerging tool for managing plant diseases, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS). ....... full story
  
• Plant Sacrifices Cells To Fight Invaders (June 1, 2006) — Science Daily -- Researchers recently discovered a gene essential to one of the plant kingdom's key immune responses--programmed cell death (PCD). Plants use PCD to create a protective zone of dead cells around the infection site to prevent the invading pathogen from spreading. But how the plants keep from killing themselves after they turn on the cell-suicide process was a mystery. ....... full story
  
• Tropical Forests Leak Nitrogen Back Into Atmosphere, Say Scientists (May 23, 2006) — Science Daily -- In findings that could influence our understanding of climate change, a Princeton research team has learned that tropical forests return to the atmosphere up to half the nitrogen they receive each year, thanks to a particular type of bacteria that lives in those forests........ full story
  
• 'Super Broccoli' Promises To Help Us Live Longer, Last Longer On Our Shelves (May 19, 2006) — Science Daily -- Warwick HRI, the University of Warwick's plant research Department, has created a stand at the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London this week. However the star exhibit in their garden won't be multicoloured flowers or a soothing water feature. The Warwick HRI stand will show how far scientists have reached in breeding a range of "Super Broccoli" and its wider brassica family which will: help us live longer, last longer on our shelves, and use much less pesticide and fertilizer. ....... full story
  
• Researchers Reveal Apples' Protective Ways: Molecular Mechanism Of Flavonoid-rich Fruit Discovered (May 18, 2006) — Science Daily -- Doctors have long been encouraging Americans to add more fruits and vegetables to their daily diets. Now, UC Davis researchers have discovered one way in which flavonoid-rich apples inhibit the kinds of cellular activity that leads to the development of chronic diseases, including heart disease and age-related cancers ....... full story
  
• Bananas could die out, group warns (May 17, 2006) — World Science -- Bananas could disappear, U.N. officials are warning. Humans are wiping out more and more varieties of the fruit, they say, and those remaining are vulnerable to epidemic diseases. Officials of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said the central problem is that forest destruction is killing off wild bananas in India, the world’s premier producer........full story
  
• Shedding light on the origin of flowers (May 17, 2006) — World Science -- The plant, found in the rain forests of New Caledonia in the South Pacific, has a unique way of forming eggs, said BSA member William “Ned” Friedman of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who conducted the study. This quirk, he added, suggests the plant may be a missing link between the remarkably diverse flowering plants and their yet-to-be-identified extinct ancestors .......full story
  
• Organic Nitrogen Gives New Clue To Biodiversity (April 13, 2006) — Science Daily -- Scientists have found that organic nitrogen is more important for plant growth than previously thought and could contribute to maintaining diversity in grasslands........full story
  
• Bionic Growth For Biotech Crops Gene-Altered Agriculture Trending Global (January 12, 2006) — Washington Post, Justin Gillis -- Since genetically modified crops were first planted a decade ago, the acreage devoted to them worldwide has been growing at double-digit rates, and it did so again last year, jumping 11 percent to 222 million acres, according to a new report.......full story
  
• Weed Surprises Scientists Studying Population Extinction (March 25, 2005) — NewsWise -- Experiment with weed tests the general tenet that local populations connected to each other persist longer than do isolated ones. Scientists were surprised. ?What we found was pretty cool, actually,? says primary investigator Jane Molofsky. ?The relation between extinction and migration is nonlinear.? ......full story
  
• Introduced foxes transformed vegetation on Aleutian Islands from lush grasslands to tundra (March 24, 2005) — EurikaAlert, Tim Stephens -- A study published this week in the journal Science now shows that the effects of the introduced foxes rippled through entire island ecosystems, transforming the vegetation from lush grasslands to scrubby, low-growing tundra. .......full story
  
• Ethnobotanist wins award for scientific cooperation (February 21, 2005) — Science Development Network, Eva Tallaksen -- Michael J. Balick's research has helped transform ethnobotany ? the study of indigenous people's use of plants ? into an internationally recognised academic discipline........full story
  
• Assumptions Of Effects Of Rising Carbon Dioxide Probed (February 21, 2005) — Science Daily, adapting a press release by Michael Allen, University of Claifornia at Riverside -- How will rising levels of carbon dioxide influence ecosystems? Scientists have tackled this question numerous times, but none have tested the assumption that a single-abrupt increase in CO2 concentrations will produce changes similar to gradual increases over several decades.........full story
  
• Eat carrots to fight cancer (February 8, 2005) — Medical Research News -- Scientists have given us another reason to eat carrots - a compound found in the popular root vegetable has been found to have an effect on the development of cancer.........full story
  
• Scientists Get to the Root of the Venus' Flytrap's Mysterious Snap (January 25, 2005) — LA Times, Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writer -- From evolutionist Charles Darwin onward, scientists have pondered how the Venus' flytrap can snap its leaves closed around an insect in less than a tenth of a second even though it has neither muscles nor nervous system. Now, using a high-speed camera, a team of researchers has shown that ........full story
  
• Brazil's Agriculture Boom Exacts High Cost (January 25, 2005) — National Public Radio, Martin Kaste -- Brazil is on course to become the world's next agricultural superpower. The South American nation may soon surpass the United States in the production of soybeans, and some say the ecological changes are contributing to a longer rainy season in Brazil, and are contributing to the greenhouse effect........full story
  
• Nations Ranked as Protectors of the Environment (January 24, 2005) — New York Times, Felicity Barringer -- Countries from Northern and Central Europe and South America dominated the top spots in the 2005 index of environmental sustainability, which ranks nations on their success at such tasks as maintaining or improving air and water quality, maximizing biodiversity and cooperating with other countries on environmental problems........full story
  
• How Will Rising CO2 Affect Nitrogen Use? (January 19, 2005) — USDA/Agricultural Research Service, David Elstein -- Wheat grown under elevated levels of carbon dioxide over the next half-century will need slightly more nitrogen to grow, but not as much as previously predicted, according to a two-year study by Agricultural Research Service scientists and cooperators.......full story
  
• Coastal Greenbelts As Tsunami Lifesavers. (January 11, 2005 ) — emagazine.com, Roddy Scheer -- Barriers such as coastal mangrove forests and coral reefs saved lives by deflecting Asia's tsunami and governments should protect such natural bulwarks against the wrath of the sea, a leading environmental group said on Tuesday........full story
  
• Controlling phosphorous key to healthy lake. (January 5, 2005) — The Post-Cresent, Jim Lee, Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers -- A lake with an algae problem is a lake with a phosphorous problem.......full story
  
• Wonder plants for skin and hair. (January 4, 2005) — The Miami Herald, SARA KENNEDY, Associated Press -- The students were among the first visitors following a grand opening in November of Crystal Springs Preserve Inc., a 525-acre educational facility designed to demonstrate the charms of one of Florida's most unique natural treasures to those who otherwise might never see it.......full story
  
• Wonder plants for skin and hair. (January 2, 2005) — The Star - Online -- Dr Paul Alan Cox dreams of finding a cure for AIDS, cancer and Alzheimer?s disease. The 51-year-old ethnobotanist has, for the last 30 years, been living with the indigenous people of Polynesia, fighting to save the forests in which they live while scouring them for drugs to halt incurable human diseases.......full story
  
• Conservationists work to save Illinois' scarce native plants. (December 29, 2004) — Belleville News Democrate (via AP) -- While Illinois still proudly carries its Prairie State moniker, biologists say the name rings more hollow by the day......full story
  
• Extra rain likely to nurture spectacular wildflowers. (December 29, 2004) — Hi-Desert Star, Mark Wheeler -- Spring wildflowers, or "winter annuals" as they are more botanically called, need two to three months to germinate from seed and to form the original rosette of ground-hugging leaves. What sets the whole process in motion is about an inch of rain......full story