Biologists learn how plants synthesize their growth hormone auxin Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have succeeded in unraveling, for the first time, the complete chain of biochemical reactions that controls the synthesis of auxin, the hormone that regulates nearly all aspects of plant growth and development. Their discovery, detailed in a paper in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will allow agricultural scientists to develop new ways to enhance or manipulate auxin production to improve the growth and yield of crops and other plants. More than a century ago, Charles Darwin noticed that plants produced a substance that made them bend toward light, a hormone called auxin that biologists have since found to be essential not only in regulating plant growth but also in patterning their development. In 2006, a team of San Diego researchers headed by Yunde Zhao, an associate professor of biology at UC San Diego, discovered a family of 11 genes involved in the synthesis of auxin.
Karl Blossfeldt’s Urformen der Kunst (1928) At the grand old age of 63, just four years before his death, Karl Blossfeldt produced his first photography book, the internationally best-selling Urformen der Kunst (later translated into English as Art Forms in Plants). The book’s 120 plates display Blossfeldt’s remarkable photographs of plants – varieties from Equisetum hyemale (Winter Horsetail) to Tellima grandiflora (Fringe cups) — all captured in extraordinary detail, as if under the microscope, frozen into new forms almost beyond recognition. Born in 1865 in Germany’s Harz Mountains, Karl Blossfeldt lived a childhood in the open air. Plants are a treasure trove of forms — one which is carelessly overlooked only because the scale of shapes fails to catch the eye and sometimes this makes the forms hard to identify. When the gallerist and collector Karl Nierendorf came across Blossfeldt’s vast collection of photographs, he sought to publish them — Urformen der Kunst is the result.
700 medical cannabis studies sorted by disease Medical marijuana uses - 700 medical marijuana clinical studies and papers NEW! Now in PDF form 700 clinical studies PDF and HERE 700 uses of Medical Marijuana | Sorted by Disease | ADD - Wilson's Disease | Links to 700 Clinical Studies | Medical Marijuana Reference | Cannabis as Medicine Medical marijuana and cannabis studies A collection of clinical studies, papers and reference providing the ultimate resource for medical disorders helped by medical marijuana. ADD/ ADHD Marijuana and ADD Therapeutic uses of Medical Marijuana in the treatment of ADD Cannabis as a medical treatment for attention deficit disorder Cannabinoids effective in animal model of hyperactivity disorder Cannabis 'Scrips to Calm Kids? Addiction risk- Physical Women's Guide to the UofC AIDS – see HIV --------- Page 1 Atherosclerosis --------- Page 2
Dutch Study Says Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick A recent study by Dutch scientists found that Wi-Fi radiation could be responsible for sickness in urban-populated trees. Image: baltimoresun What would life be like without Wi-Fi, bringer of high speed internet access? The study began five years ago in the city of Alphen aan den Rijn. According to an article from PC World : “The study exposed 20 ash trees to various radiation sources for a period of three months. Image: p2pnet Sounds pretty scary, doesn’t it? What do you think? digg
Scientists invent transparent soil to reveal the secret life of plants Lettuce grown in transparent soil developed by researchers at the James Hutton Institute and the University of Abertay Dundee in Scotland Most people’s image of plants is actually upside down. For most of our photosynthetic friends, the majority of the plant is underground in the form of an intricate system of roots. The bit that sticks up is almost an afterthought. That’s a problem for scientists trying to study plants because growing them in media that allow you to see the roots, such as hydroponics, doesn't mimic real soil very well. Developed by a team led by Lionel Dupuy, a theoretical biologist in the Ecological Sciences group at the James Hutton Institute, the transparent soil is the result of two years of research. It’s made from granules of Nafion, which is a lot easier than calling it a sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene based fluoropolymer-copolymer. The team's research is published in the journal PLOS One. Source: James Hutton Institute About the Author
Uli Westphal The Cultivar Series Since the dawn of agriculture we have shaped and transformed a broad number of organisms towards our needs, while at the same time promoting their survival and geographic range. Through breeding and artificial selection we have developed a seemingly infinite diversity of shapes and colors from the wild ancestors of today's domesticated plants. However, since the industrialization of agriculture our focus has shifted to only a few modern, high yielding, robust, 'good looking', uniform and predictable varieties. 2010 - Present | photographs Zea mays I - Native Seeds/SEARCH, Tucson, USA 2018 | 224cm x 112cm Special thanks to Liz Fairchild, Nicholas Garber and Sheryl Joy. Zea mays I focuses on the diversity of maize cultivars grown before the age of industrial monocultures. Thousands of years of selection by humans have yielded dramatic changes to corn, including non-shattering ears, more kernels, bigger cobs, more rows of kernels and greater edibility. Lycopersicum III
Science of what happens when we die Home»Human Consciousness Project The Human Consciousness Project is an international consortium of multidisciplinary scientists and physicians who have joined forces to research the nature of consciousness and its relationship with the brain, as well as the neuronal processes that mediate and correspond to different facets of consciousness. The Human Consciousness ProjectSM will conduct the world’s first large-scale scientific study of what happens when we die and the relationship between mind and brain during clinical death. The mystery of what happens when we die and the nature of the human mind has fascinated humankind from antiquity to the present day. Since the 1950s and 60s, marked improvements in resuscitation techniques have led to higher survival rates for patients experiencing cardiac arrest. Contrary to popular perception, death is not a specific moment, but a well-defined process.
Plants Communicate to Warn Against Danger Plants chatter amongst themselves to spread information, a lot like humans and other animals, new research suggests. A unique internal network apparently allows greens to warn each other against predators and potential enemies. Many herbal plants such as strawberry, clover, reed and ground elder naturally form a set of connections to share information with each other through channels known as runners—horizontal stems that physically bond the plants like tubes or cables along the soil surface and underground. Though connected to vertical stems, runners eventually form new buds at the tips and ultimately form a network of plants. “Network-like plants do not usually produce vertical stems but their stems lie flat on the ground and can hence be used as network infrastructure,” said researcher Josef Stuefer from the Radboud University in the Netherlands. Stuefer and his team let loose caterpillars on white clover plants and watched them eat a single leaf on the network.
Lettuce-Bot can kill weeds with 98% accuracy Humans have a pesky way of increasing in number no matter what we do. All those people also consume resources, and the strain on global food supplies will only increase in the future. As everyone scrambles to find a solution to this problem, we come back to one of our favorite problem-solvers: robots. Angel investors have opted to put $3.1 million on the table to move development of the Lettuce-Bot forward. Lettuce-Bot does this by taking advantage of recent advancements in computer vision systems. The Lettuce-Bot is not a miracle machine, though. Blue River, via Future Timeline
William Mullan: Apples Inside a bright Brooklyn gallery that is plastered in photographs of apples, William Mullan is being besieged with questions. A writer is researching apples for his novel set in post-World War II New York. An employee of a fruit-delivery company, who covetously eyes the round table on which Mullan has artfully arranged apples, asks where to buy his artwork. But these aren’t your Granny Smith’s apples. Mullan, whose day job is as a brand manager for Raaka Chocolate, can rhapsodize about apples at length. Taste the World! An eye-opening journey through the history, culture, and places of the culinary world.Order Now But he quickly sobers. Mullan was born in the United States, but grew up in the United Kingdom, where a teenage encounter with an Egremont Russet led to his love of apples. When health issues forced Mullan to change his diet, he satisfied his sweet tooth on apples, using the internet to research different varieties. Gastro Obscura covers the world’s most wondrous food and drink.
Humanistic psychology Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century in response to the limitations of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B.F. Skinner's behaviorism.[1] With its roots running from Socrates through the Renaissance, this approach emphasizes individuals inherent drive towards self-actualization and creativity. It typically holds that people are inherently good. In the 20th century humanistic psychology was referred to as the "third force" in psychology, distinct from earlier, even less humanistic approaches of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Its principal professional organizations in the U.S. are the Association for Humanistic Psychology and the Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32 of the American Psychological Association). Origins[edit] One of humanistic psychology's early sources was the work of Carl Rogers, who was strongly influenced by Otto Rank, who broke with Freud in the mid-1920s. Conceptual origins[edit]
Why Do Some Clovers Have Four Leaves? | Life's Little Mysteries The leaves of clover plants are said to hold the luck o' the Irish when they sport four leaves. This myth likely arose because four-leaf clovers are rare finds — the result of an equally rare genetic mutation in the clover plant. There are about 300 species in the clover genus Trifolium, or trefoil, so named because the plants usually have three leaves, or technically, leaflets. Typically all clover plants feature leaves that have three leaflets on them — legend has it that St. "The 4-leaf (technically, 4-leaflet) and higher-leaflet variants are caused by rare genetic mutations," biologist Kenneth Olsen of Washington University in St. According to the Web site of the Guinness Book of World Records, the most leaves ever found on a clover are 18.