Devil-may-care and out-of-control plants.
A couple of reports in the science news this week seem to suggest that one way to cope with global climate change may be unbridled plant growth.
One has to do with the discovery of a cellular regulator for the synthesis of cellulose by plant cells.
The other involves plants’ natural [...]
Archive for the ‘Plant Cell Walls’ Category
Will Frenzied Plant Growth Help Solve Global Warming?
Posted in Plant Cell Walls, Plant Development, Plant Stress, tagged agriculture, Biofuels, botany, climate change, global warming, plants, science on December 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
How Stress Shapes Plants
Posted in Plant Cell Walls, Plant Development, tagged Biology, botany, plants, science, Stem Cells on December 16, 2008 | 3 Comments »
To make complex organisms takes specialized cells.
Animals and flowering plants require specialized cells with distinct abilities in order to accomplish higher order functions – such as vision or flowering.
It’s somewhat like a symphony orchestra. The orchestra integrates different musicians playing different instruments. The characteristic sounds of the instruments can be blended together to achieve [...]
Self-Digesting Plants? – Potential Key to Biofuel Production from Plant Biomass
Posted in Plant Cell Walls, tagged agriculture, Biofuels, botany, Energy, global warming, science on November 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Remember the melting witch in The Wizard of Oz?
What if corn stalks, for instance, could be induced to “melt” from tough biomass into a sugary puddle? That is, to breakdown their cellulosic biomass into a solution of glucose and other sugars.
If so, it would be much more cost effective to use corn biomass as a [...]
