Arabidopsis must die(?)

It looks like somebody has taken the Danish advice to obliterate weeds in my previous item too far in producing a list of ‘The top 10 ways to kill arabidopsis’. Now, I know that for many of us Arabidopsis is a weed (after all its common name is l’herbe mauvais – allegedly – in French), but even I acknowledge that it does have important plant biological uses. So, before the arabidophiles amongst my legion of adoring fans reach to turn the flamethrower or pan of boiling water on me, I ought to explain that the full title of that list is actually ‘The top 10 ways to kill arabidopsis…….by accident (honest guv)’. It is in fact handy hints of how to avoid killing off the botanical equivalent of the lab rat (which was conveniently ignored in many of the media reports that commented on this item). So, that’s all right, then. [More arabidopsis culture tips, etc here– Ed.]