From How Sunflowers Track The Sun To Where Strawberries Came From The eighth month of the year may be when many people are on holiday (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). But plant science news didn’t take a holiday. Indeed, there were so many popular reports published last August, it…
From Cancer-Fighting Plants To Cadmium-Sniffing Moss Sadly, those who teach classes about plant physiology often feel the need to justify why plants are important. That’s how I usually began the first lecture in my Botany and Plant Physiology courses back in the day when I was boring undergraduate students. Most…
Out-Of-Control Plants? A couple of reports in the science news a few years ago seemed to suggest that one way to cope with global climate change may be unbridled plant growth. One such report involved the discovery of a cellular regulator for the synthesis of cellulose by plant cells. The…
Plants – Food Versus Fuel A recently published report has pounded another nail in the biofuels coffin. This report, published by the World Resources Institute provides evidence that governments have made a mistake by supporting the large-scale conversion of plants into fuel. “Turning plant matter into liquid fuel or electricity…
We’re In A Jam Let’s face it, humanity is NOT going to back off anytime soon on it’s production of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuels. Just last year, for example, atmospheric CO2 emissions increased at their fastest rate for 30 years. So, how are…
From Anthropocene To Eocene II? A mountainside near where I live gave way in January 2009 (as a result of torrential rains) resulting in Racehorse Creek rock slide. This landslide revealed a treasure-trove of fossils, mainly 55-million-year old fossils of plants that were alive during the Eocene. Most interestingly, perhaps,…
By 2050, What Will Be The Greatest Human Impact on Plants? I first encountered the term “anthropocene” back in 2007 when I was writing a manuscript regarding some of our research in Yellowstone National Park (see Ref. 1 below). A more detailed view regarding the nature and implications of the…
It’s All About The CO2 Sell all your bicycles. Forget about buying a Prius®. Drive the biggest gas-guzzler you can find. Crank up that home and work air conditioning, especially if you get your electricity from coal-fired power plants. Yes, your houseplants – all green (photosynthetic) plants, for that matter…
In the past 250 years the amount of atmospheric CO2 has increased by over 40% (from 270 to 387 ppm), due mainly to human activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are rising faster than the worst-case scenario postulated by the Intergovernmental Panel…
YES! Here’s How (And Why): Although “Global Warming” is to some people a controversial subject, the one thing that’s not controversial is that the level of atmospheric CO2 has significantly increased in the past 100 years and will likely continue to increase – at least until humans stop burning fossil…