Category: Uncategorized

NATURAL HARDENING. "Wind-induced mechanical stress increased resistance to an arthropod herbivore and a fungal pathogen in common bean." https://lnkd.in/dDuN9mZ View in LinkedIn

OTHER BEAN PLANTS. "Rubbed soybean plants exhibited reduction in stem elongation and frost resistance. Mechanically rubbed stems of common bean were hardened because of an increase in flexibility and acquired resistance to bending-caused breaking." https://lnkd.in/dDuN9mZ View in LinkedIn

SPIKES AND GRAIN. "This treading led to good yields: the number of spikes per plant, weight of whole plant, and grain weight per plant were increased by 18, 41, and 54%, respectively." https://lnkd.in/dDuN9mZ View in LinkedIn

STEMS AND LEAVES. "Regarding the shoot, the numbers of stems and leaves as well as the wet weight were increased by treading by 74, 10, and 50%, respectively." https://lnkd.in/dDuN9mZ View in LinkedIn

SOIL AND ROOTS. "To avoid letting the soil become too firm, it is important to tread seedlings when the soil is dry. Another beneficial effect of treading is that it permits roots that have risen from the soil due to the growth of frost columns to be settled. The length and number of roots were also increased by 4 and 7%, respectively." https://lnkd.in/dDuN9mZ View in LinkedIn

SPECIFIC TECHNIQUE. "If farmers miss the right time and perform mugifumi an incorrect number of times, they may damage the seedlings and have a reduced grain yield. The appropriate weight for mugifumi corresponds to the body weight per seedling." https://lnkd.in/dDuN9mZ View in LinkedIn

SYNTHETIC LIFE RACE. "‘Minimal’ cell raises stakes in race to harness synthetic life. Genomics entrepreneur Craig Venter has created a synthetic cell that contains the smallest genome of any known, independent organism. Functioning with 473 genes, the cell is a milestone in his team’s 20-year quest to reduce life to its bare essentials and, by extension, to design life from scratch." http://www.nature.com/news/minimal-cell-raises-stakes-in-race-to-harness-synthetic-life-1.19633 View in LinkedIn

INFORMATION STORAGE IN ARTIFICIAL DNA. "With the use of polymerase evolution and design, we show that genetic information can be stored in and recovered from six alternative genetic polymers based on simple nucleic acid architectures not found in nature [xeno-nucleic acids (XNAs)]." https://lnkd.in/dbgtZme View in LinkedIn

MINIMAL GENOME. "Venter and his colleagues also synthesized a trimmed down, artificial version of Mycoplasma's DNA, a project known as the Minimal Genome Project. Attempts to implant the synthetic DNA all failed, until now." https://lnkd.in/e9ZJKP5 View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first weekend case study about knowledge from other cultures that has been very slow to diffuse: in this case, the beneficial effects of physical stimulation in plants. This Japanese case mirrors that of the uses of bacteriophages as antibiotics in Russia: in both cases, the original reports lay obscure for decades in publications written in Japanese and Russian respectively. And when eventually discovered, were treated with overt skepticism or hostility by western scientists. View in LinkedIn