Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Written by Matt DiLeo JetBlue airlines now gives out blue potato chips as their “official” snack. I’m very impressed by the fact that these blue potato chips exist. It’s no small feat to create a good-frying potato with excellent agronomic qualities in itself. I can’t imagine crossing in blue coloring (anthocyanin expression) on top of…
Applause for Plant Physiologist Helen Stafford who bequeathed an astonishing $8M to Reed College in her will. As a woman scientist in the 1950s, Stafford was ineligible for many jobs. Reed College, not deterred by her sex, offered her a position. She went on to establish a successful career and inspired many young scientists. Here…
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“Nothing more fun than making discoveries in nature and then seeing them used for the public good ” Listen to the NPR interview with enthusiastic Professor Emeritus Murray Gardener. He describes recent UCDavis symposium with 2011 Nobel Laureates Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffman
The University of California, Davis, will host two Nobel laureates for a symposium this month about the shared characteristics of plants, flies and people in terms of how they fight infections. “Evolution of Common Molecular Pathways Underlying Innate Immunity” will feature the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine, Jules Hoffmann of the University of…
Another vigilante for truth. Lithodid man exposes Jeffrey Smith #antiGMO claims to light of day in this entertaining video. Well done Lithodid.
Jonathan Eisen, scientist and blogger extraordinaire has established a science writing series called “Story behind the paper”. The idea is for authors who have recently published Open Access papers to tell the story behind the paper: what sorts of experiences and experiments led up to the new discovery and how we navigated through the publication…
This excellent New York Times article describes Eric Lander’s journey in science to his position today as not only one of the great genome researchers but a terrific teacher and human being.
In Memoriam, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him…
It was Sept 4, 1939, the day after the UK declared war on Germany, when mathematician Alan Turing reported to work at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. Within weeks of his arrival, Turing and his colleagues were able to intercept high-level encrypted enemy communication signals and decode a vast number of…
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Written by Matt DiLeo Among plant geneticists, breeders are always held up as the pragmatic experts who know what matters in the Real World. But not all fields perceive breeders this way… Sustainable agriculture was a popular session topic at the tri-societies joint meeting in San Antonio. More specifically, many speakers took pleasure (rightly so) in…