Category: Uncategorized

FLOWERS AND POLLINATOR PROCESSES. "When considering the consequences of interactions between angiosperms and their pollinators, it is vital to consider two predominant processes influencing angiosperm diversity: interspecific hybridization and polyploidy (or whole-genome multiplication." https://lnkd.in/dHD-ddW View in LinkedIn

MEMORY ENGINE. “Dr. Gary Marcus, a psychology professor at New York University, tells Big Think that we should develop a "Google-like" chip to implant in our brains that would use our neurons like a search engine and enhance human memory.” https://lnkd.in/dZVxp_b View in LinkedIn

BLOCKING THE BUZZ. "RNA interference on only two loci can block the production of both benzyl acetone and nicotine, resulting in fewer visits and nectar removal by pollinators, which has fitness effects (for example, altering seed set), but it also alters damage by herbivores, and nectar theft by ants." https://lnkd.in/dHD-ddW View in LinkedIn

ENORMOUS EVOLUTIONARY GAP. "This Botanical Briefing reviews how the integration of palaeontology, geochemistry and developmental biology is providing a new mechanistic framework for interpreting the 40- to 50-million-year gap between the origination of vascular land plants and the advent of large (megaphyll) leaves, a long-standing puzzle in evolutionary biology." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn

VARIABLE RESPONSES. "Different flower visitors can vary in their response thresholds for the repellent effect; for example, in Nicotiana attenuata flowers, moths responded more strongly to the presence of nicotine (repulsion) and benzyl acetone (attraction) in nectar than hummingbirds." https://lnkd.in/dHD-ddW View in LinkedIn