Relatively new to me – so maybe new to some of my devoted legion of readers (many of whom may be involved in teaching science, plant or otherwise) and therefore worthy of sharing – is news of the Understanding Science teaching resource. Yes, it’s ‘American’. So, you might be annoyed by the idiosyncratic spellings. And [...]

I’m sure that many of us in our teaching have demonstrated the transfer of light energy between adjacent accessory pigment molecules during the light-dependent stages of photosynthesis using the so-called Newton’s cradle. Perhaps more famous as a stress-relieving ‘toy’ for over-worked ‘executives’, the apparatus visually – and usually quite dramatically and memorably – demonstrates the [...]

Surely, it is a truth universally acknowledged is that leaves are green?

OK, that’s the answer, what was the question? Who invented the dichotomous key for identification? Well, as anybody who has taught students about keys and their use as tools for plant ID (or even for animals if you must!) will probably agree, the consensus is that the oft-derided French former botanist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck is credited [...]

Not content with just being grateful for all of the marvellous things that plants do and provide, we humans always seem to want them to do even more. Well, in that vein there has been a veritable avalanche of stories that exploit the impressive chemical synthetic abilities of plants. Moran Farhi et al. have managed to [...]