Plants and Pipettes

This week, we’re going cave diving. Not too deep though, we still need a little bit of light to find a moss. We also talk plant forensics and about the cooles news in plant science.

• What does ‘cheugy’ mean? And more importantly, are you a cheug?
• Schistostega pennata, also called goblin gold, Dragon’s gold, luminous moss or luminescent moss
• Picture on twitter 
• Mark Spencer (on twitter) 
• BBC Radio 4 – The Life Scientific on Mark Spencer  
• Scientists keep ignoring ugly plants. That’s a big problem 
• Plant scientists’ research attention is skewed towards colourful, conspicuous and broadly distributed flowers 
• Herbivore dung stoichiometry drives competition between savanna trees and grasses
• Just 20 Companies Produce Over 55% of All Single-Use Plastic Waste in The World
• Flows (Interactive Flow Chart for Single Use plastic production)
• An illuminating possibility for stroke treatment: Nano-photosynthesis
• 100 important questions for plant science research – revisited! – Journals
• The membrane-localized protein kinase MAP4K4/ TOT3 regulates thermomorphogenesis
• A prion-like domain in ELF3 functions as a thermosensor in Arabidopsis
• Phytochromes function as thermosensors in Arabidopsis
• Circadian rhythms driving a fast‐paced root clock implicate species‐specific regulation in Medicago truncatula
• Diploid, triploid, tetraploid – chromatin organization in polyploid watermelon
• Why Cats Love to Sit in Boxes—Even Fake Ones, According to Science 
• Joram’s tiktok: @sciencejoram

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

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Oh Carp! Is it a new week already? We have another episode for you, this time talking about priming in maize, biosensors and carp science! Do you know whether carp can hear music? Tell us. We need to know.

• Bitcoin emissions alone could push global warming above 2°C
• Saif ul Malook, Yuxing Xu, Jinfeng Qi, Jing Li, Lei Wang, Jianqiang Wu, Mythimna separata herbivory primes maize resistance in systemic leaves, Journal of Experimental Botany, Volume 72, Issue 10, 4 May 2021, Pages 3792–3805
• Tracking temperate fish reveals their relevance for plant seed dispersal
• Joram learned about breast cancer biosensors and solar panels from food waste
• A biosensor for the direct visualization of auxin
• There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically)
• Nature: Throwing money at biodiversity schemes is ineffective 
• Nanoscale nutrients can protect plants from fungal diseases
• Bees and hoverflies gobble fake pollen, benefiting both insect and plant
• The Purr‐fect Catch: Using accelerometers and audio recorders to document kill rates and hunting behaviour of a small prey specialist
• There’s a Weird Correlation Between Brain Size And Yawning, Study Reveals

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

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A new episode is here! We’re talking about a sheep made of vegetables in the mountains, microneedles on plant leaves and the amazin work of Joanne Chory. 

• Raoulia
• Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
• Alpine Cushion Plants New Zealand
• Bloom of the Week – Vegetable Sheep 
• Joanne Chory
  • Washington Post article: Joanne Chory is harnessing plants to stop climate change
  • The Scientist: Into the Light: A Profile of Joanne Chory 
  • Harnessing Plants Initiative 
  • Her TED talk: Joanne Chory: How supercharged plants could slow climate 
• Genome-wide role of codon usage on transcription and identification of potential regulators
• Codon usage bias and nuclear mRNA concentration: Correlation vs. causation
• Reply to Qian and Zhang: Demonstration of the effect of codon usage on transcription by multiple approaches from fungi to animal cells 

• The dark side of our houseplant obsession
  • Harriet Thompson sells peat-free house plants
• A simple and efficient agroinfiltration method for transient gene expression in Citrus
• EC study on new genomic techniques | Food Safety
• The genomes of ancient date palms germinated from 2,000 y old seeds 
• Mangroves and seagrasses absorb microplastics 
• Plastic in your Plants – Plants and Pipettes
• Plant signals differentially affect rhizosphere nematode populations | Journal of Experimental Botany | Oxford Academic
• Benzoxazinoids selectively affect maize root-associated nematode taxa
• These strange salt ‘creatures’ could help unclog power plant pipes 

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

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We’re blue, da ba dee, da ba dye – Our sauerkraut senses were tingling when we read today’s science story about a blue dye made from cabbage. Also: something we can learn from the pandemic and how to get burned by parsnips.

• Feeling Blah During the Pandemic? It’s Called Languishing 
• Discovery of a natural cyan blue: A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue, BY PAMELA R. DENISH, JULIE-ANNE FENGER, RANDALL POWERS, GREGORY T. SIGURDSON, LUCA GRISANTI, KATHRYN G. GUGGENHEIM, SARA LAPORTE, JULIA LI, TADAO KONDO, ALESSANDRA MAGISTRATO, MÍCHEÁL P. MOLONEY, MARY RILEY, MARIAMI RUSISHVILI, NEDA AHMADIANI, STEFANO BARONI, OLIVIER DANGLES, MONICA GIUSTI, THOMAS M. COLLINS, JOHN DIDZBALIS, KUMI YOSHIDA, JUSTIN B. SIEGEL, REBECCA J. ROBBINS, SCIENCE ADVANCES07 APR 2021 : EABE7871
• Watch out, this link goes to the Daily Mail: Natural blue color from red cabbage could replace artificial food dye
• The blue steak experiment: Decoder Ring on the history of blue raspberry, color consulting, blueberries, and the Wheatley steak study 
• New Approaches for Teaching Science Remotely Arise from the COVID-19 Crisis
• João Martins on Twitter: “When you label a plot the wrong way and suddenly discover a new graph type. I’m calling it the just-beat-soltaire-plot. #rstats #ggplot #tidyverse… https://t.co/gNg8xsczt0” 
• SEA you later alli-GATOR – a dynamic regulator of the TORC1 stress response pathway | Journal of Cell Science | The Company of Biologists
• Wild Parsnip Burns: Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention 
• Natural GM: how plants and animals steal genes from other species to accelerate evolution

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

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Your favourite tools are back to talk about some great science tools: a 28-page guide book for SciComm, DIY microscopes and the best AI-crafted pickup lines this side of the Mississippi. Also some actual plant science.

• The effects of climate change on Australia’s only endemic Pokémon: Measuring bias in species distribution models
• Joram’s favourite plant is Coffea stenophylla 
• Arabica-like flavour in a heat-tolerant wild coffee species
• Follow up on this: Missing: Have you seen this Coffee? – Plants and Pipettes 
• Beronda Montgomery
  • My most memorable mentors? Plants
  • Jonathan Van Ness on Instagram: “Lessons from Plants is out this week by our fav @beronda_m !! Make sure to follow her, buy her book & enjoy this garden side chat Also…”
  • Beronda Montgomery and Crystal Fleming – Lessons from Plants
  • Plantae Webinar – Lessons from Plants: A conversation with Beronda Montgomery
  • A Biologist Shares The Life Lessons We Can Learn From Plants
  • Mentoring Lessons from Plants with Dr. Beronda Montgomery
  • Lessons from Plants
  • Plants Were My Beacon of Hope During the Pandemic Elle
  • Beronda Montgomery – MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory
  • Beronda Montgomery, #LessonsFromPlants April 2021 (@BerondaM)
  • @berondam
  • Make equity essential to expedite change in academia
  • April 2021 – Beronda L. Montgomery
  • Developing your own academic “index”: An interview with Dr. Beronda Montgomery
  • Language Matters: Considering Microaggressions in Science | CBE—Life Sciences Education

• He Was a Stick, She Was a Leaf; Together They Made History
• Researchers from Bayreuth and Göttingen call for a combination of new breeding technologies and organic farming
• Higher yields and more biodiversity on smaller farms
  • news report here Small farms outdo big ones on biodiversity — and crop yields 
• World-first clear solar glass greenhouse opened at Murdoch University
  • ClearVue Solar Glass Greenhouse Officially Opened – Solar Quotes Blog

• Designing a high-resolution, LEGO-based microscope for an educational setting
• Foldscope Instruments | Magnify Your Curiosity 
• Broadening the impact of plant science through innovative, integrative, and inclusive outreach
• An autonomous debating system
  • Am I arguing with a machine? AI debaters highlight need for transparency 
  • GPT-3 tries pickup lines (janellecshane.substack.com) 
• Broad-scale Applications of the Raspberry Pi: A Review and Guide for Biologists
• Why does my cat love sitting on my laptop?

• We read “The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan in the newest episode of the Plant Book Club!
• Also check out Flora and Friends!

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

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A bumblebee’s tongue is not something we thought to discuss but here we are. This week, by pure coincidence, is all about plants and their pollinators. Follow the buzz, sip some nectar and come along for some plant science.

• 3 Guys Created A Pink Glove For Disposing Tampons. Give Us Strength 
• IT flaw that assigned every ‘Miss’ a child’s weight onboard Tui plane causes ‘serious incident’ 
• Paper of the week
  • Mackin, CR,  Peña, JF,  Blanco, MA,  Balfour, NJ,  Castellanos, MC.  Rapid evolution of a floral trait following acquisition of novel pollinators. J Ecol.  2021; 00: 1– 13. 
  • press release
  • The plant that hides from human eyes – Plants and Pipettes
• Larger pollinators deposit more pollen on stigmas across multiple plant species
• Pollen PCP-B peptides unlock a stigma peptide–receptor kinase gating mechanism for pollination
• The Great Sperm Race (Human Reproduction Documentary) | Real Stories 
• Butterflies provide ‘extraordinary’ help pollinating cotton fields
• How we discovered a hidden world of fungi inside the world’s biggest seed bank
• Angiosperm pollinivory in a Cretaceous beetle
• The last meal of a Cretaceous pollinator
• Anti‐herbivore silicon defences in a model grass are greatest under Miocene levels of atmospheric CO2
• Silicon: its ameliorative effect on plant defense against herbivory
• Plants remember drought
• Plants and Pipettes Podcast episode on Venus Fly Traps: Social Distancing Bats – Venus Fly Traps, Pandas, Chinas Carbon Capture
• MIT Scientists Translated the Structure of a Spider Web Into Music – Watch & Listen
• A Genius New Simulation Has Revealed More on How Whiskers Actually Work 

• We read “The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan in the newest episode of the Plant Book Club!
• Also check out Flora and Friends!

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

Until next time!

Support Us!

This is technically still a plant podcast even though we talk a suspiciously long time about fancy words and worms. There is also a new favourite plant, an awesome researcher and cool new science from the last week or so!

• Eutrema salsugineum – eXtreme Plants
• Learning from Evolution: Thellungiella Generates New Knowledge on Essential and Critical Components of Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants 
• Berta Lange de Morretes, 1917 – 2016 (99 years)
• Gabrielle Adams on Twitter
• Video: Less is more: Why our brains struggle to subtract
• News and Views: Adding is favoured over subtracting in problem solving 
• Construction of simple structures drastically improves biotope health along streams
• Hubert Duprat’ precious larvae — Cercle
• Want other scientists to cite you? Drop the jargon; The actual paper
• Organic Chemistry Taught Me to Fully Inhabit My Mixed Identities | Ariana Remmel
• How pirouettes and pliés prepared me for a research career
• How to stop psychopaths and narcissists from winning positions of power
• Cat happy birthday

Check out the new episode of the Plant Book Club!

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

Until next time!

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This week, we’re welcoming our close friend Etienne Meyer to the show. Together with Joram, he just published a new paper on ATP synthase research and we take the chance to talk about it. 

• Complexome profiling reveals novel insights into the composition and assembly of the mitochondrial ATP synthase of Arabidopsis thaliana, Helene Röhricht, Joram Schwartzman, Etienne H. Meyer, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Bioenergetics, 2021
• Here is a link for free access until the 25th of May 2021
• Rotary motion of the motor that produces ATP in mitochondria
• ATP Synthase Mechanism

Only click this link if you’re fine with seeing dead cats. Julia Eberhard on Twitter: “Fischer, if you’re out of 50 mL conicals, you coulda just told us…Whoever had thermo pulling a total Godfather move on their 2021 bingo card gets a point… https://t.co/HIdrq41KeB”

Check out the new episode of the Plant Book Club!

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

Until next time!

Support Us!

There is a worm moon on the rise and we’re here for it. This week, we’re talking about the science behind lavender, the antarctic explorer Rosell Ocampo-Friedmann and our favourite bits and pieces from the last week.

• Lavandula angustifolia 
• Study that found that in mice, linalool acts through odor and not through the blood stream
• Meta study on the effect of lavender 
• Snake Oil Supplements — Information is Beautifulinformationisbeautiful.net
• Nina draws scientists
• Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann 
• Twice As Bright as Sunlight – Plants and Pipettes
• we talk about that also here: Mola mola babies – extremophile algae, intersectional feminism in academia, talking to conspiracy theorists
• Interpretive bias
• Fantastic Downy Mildew Pathogens and How to Find Them: Advances in Detection and Diagnostics
• Taiwan official urges people to stop changing their name to ‘salmon’
• Plant is Lazy and Smelly just like a teenager living its parents’ basement
  • A reeking, parasitic plant lost its body and much of its genetic blueprint 
  • Deeply Altered Genome Architecture in the Endoparasitic Flowering Plant Sapria himalayana Griff. (Rafflesiaceae)
• This microscopic hitchhiker is a friend to both plants and humans
• 100-Million-Year-Old Seafloor Sediment Bacteria Have Been Resuscitated
• Semi-Transparent Solar Cells Can Power Greenhouses Without Stunting Plant Growth
• Scientists grew tiny tear glands in a dish — then made them cry News
• Adorable Snoozing Lemurs Are Teaching Scientists The Secrets of Hibernation

Check out the new episode of the Plant Book Club!

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

Until next time!

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This week, we’re talking about a paper that looks at the internal selection processes happening within plants to decide which fruit makes the cut. Plus a number of interesting facts from the last days.

• When a Crop Goes Back to the Wil: Feralization 
• No Effect of Selective Maturation on Fruit Traits for a Bird-Dispersed Species, Sambucus racemosa, Koyama, K.; Tashiro, M. Plants 2021, 10, 376. 
• FOSSIL PLANTS found beneath MILE-DEEP GREENLAND ICE—indicating risk of rapid sea-level rise

• A multimillion-year-old record of Greenland vegetation and glacial history preserved in sediment beneath 1.4 km of ice at Camp Century
• Ancient noeggerathialean reveals the seed plant sister group diversified alongside the primary seed plant radiation
• “Pompeii of Prehistoric Plants” Unlocks Evolutionary Secret – Spectacular Fossil Plants Preserved Within a Volcanic Ash Fall 
• Climate change: ‘Forever plant’ seagrass faces uncertain future
• To keep nationalism in check, nurture science solidarity World View
• The US Is Building Walls Around Science, and We’re All Poorer for It
• Introduction, adaptation and characterization of monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii): a non-caloric new natural sweetener
• Siraitia grosvenorii
• To Protect Local Wildlife, Feed Your Cat Meatier Meals

Check out the new episode of the Plant Book Club!

All views are our own. If you want to comment or correct anything we said, leave a comment under this post or reach out to us via twitter, facebook or instagram.

Our opening and closing music is Caravana by Phillip Gross

Until next time!

Support Us!