There is an ancient and time-honoured association – maybe co-evolution even – between birds and flowering plants, e.g. in respect of pollination and dispersal of the fruits/seeds of the latter by the former. Now, at the...
Roots generally absorb water from the soil and transport it above ground to the stem, branches, etc. Where the soil is too dry for water to be absorbed by the roots, the roots might actually lose water to the soil and...
It is widely acknowledged that eukaryotic cells (you know, the ones with a membrane-bound nucleus and a variety of other membrane-bound organelles (cf. prokaryotes)) came to be so complex by a series of ‘mergers and...
Picking up on my elemental theme, fire has long been considered a major influence on evolution of the angiosperms, whether natural or anthropogenic conflagrations. This incendiary interaction has not been helped by...
Echoing a plea from Ron Milo and Robert Last that computational methods [which is sort of ‘math(s)’…] should be used to gain deeper understanding of the fundamental principles that govern regulation of metabolic...
Advances (ever an optimistic notion!) in technology take many forms and may have unanticipated consequences. Take, for example, the emerging discipline of nanotechnology, which works with structures that are...
Despite appearances – and often therefore assumptions – to the contrary, the intense blue-colour of the fruit of Pollia condensata is not due to pigment(s). Instead, it is another example of so-called ‘structural...
Co-opting animals to help with pollination is a major event in flower (angiosperm) biology – and is very much a do-or-die act. But have you ever considered that a similar role might be performed by animals in the case...
Notwithstanding plants’ rightly applauded self-sufficiency, and remarkable life-sustaining synthetic abilities using basic inorganic ingredients, some plant-like organisms need a little extra help in the form of organic...
For as long as the Casparian strip (CS) – an impervious component of the endodermal cell wall that blocks the passive flow of water and solutes into the vascular tissues of a plant – has been known (discovery credited...
Continuing the ethnobotanical theme of previous posts, another great source of information regarding folk uses of plants is the writings of the Bard of Avon, England’s very own quillmeister, William Shakespeare. Take...