Chinese astronauts successfully grow rice in space

Rice is one of the world's staple crops. It is regularly eaten by more than half the world's population. And now, it's been grown in microgravity, on board the newly launched Chinese Wentian space laboratory.

Plants can measure the intensity of salt stress

Unfavorable environmental conditions represent considerable stress for plants. A high level of salt content (sodium chloride, NaCl) in the soil is just such a stressor that has a negative impact on plants. Salinization is ...

Pretreating soil with ethanol protects plants from drought

Ethanol can help plants survive in times of drought says a new study conducted at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan. Led by Motoaki Seki, researchers show that adding ethanol to soil allows plants, ...

Previously unknown protein turns plants into dwarfs

Arabidopsis thaliana belongs to the crucifer family and serves researchers around the world as a common model organism that allows comparatively simple analyses of genetic information and the functions associated with it. ...

Protein folding in times of oxygen deficiency

Proteins often consist of hundreds or thousands of individual parts—the amino acids. These are connected like the links of a chain. However, protein molecules would not be able to fulfill their task as a long filament flapping ...

The signaling pathways that make plants more resistant to flooding

Extreme weather phenomena are on the rise worldwide, including frequent droughts and fires. Floods are also a clear consequence of climate change. For agriculture, a flooded field means major losses: about 15% of global crop ...

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