news, journals and articles from all over the world.
Biologist Zhen Wang’s team recently published a pair of papers detailing characteristics of cardiac glycosides in two foxglove species. “This kind of study is important because we first have to know the accurate structure of natural compounds before we can explore their medicinal effects,” she says.
New Brunswick, N.J. (April 7, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Michelle Infante-Casella and other Rutgers faculty and staff are available for interviews on home gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic. In each county in New Jersey, the Agriculture and Natural…
Rutgers researchers have discovered the origins of the protein structures responsible for metabolism: simple molecules that powered early life on Earth and serve as chemical signals that NASA could use to search for life on other planets. Their study, which predicts what the earliest proteins looked like 3.5 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers illuminate the dawn of land plants and discover genes that could help crops grow more efficiently with less synthetic fertilizer.
Mild winter temperatures are causing many plants and trees to bloom early across the region. Virginia Cooperative Extension agriculture expert Kirsten Ann Conrad says that unpredictable weather patterns in March, may require special care and attention from spring gardeners. “The…
New Brunswick, N.J. (March 3, 2020) – A Rutgers University–New Brunswick tomato breeding team known for developing the ‘Rutgers 250’ tomato has created ‘Scarlet Sunrise,’ a unique and flavorful bicolor grape tomato. The team at Rutgers’ New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station…
Invasive species threaten our nation’s food and water supply, a problem that becomes more serious in light of recent funding cuts out of Washington. Virginia Tech’s Jacob Barney, an expert in the field of invasive plant ecology, has joined a…
Researchers have new insight into plant survival after identifying hormones and proteins that interact to regulate root emergence. The findings may lead to the ability to control when and how many additional roots a plant can form – a key weapon in battling dry conditions caused by climate change.
What do nutrients do for plants?
New Brunswick, N.J. (Jan. 15, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Pamela McElwee is available for interviews on climate change impacts on land, including increasing wildfires such as in Australia and California, and solutions. She is scheduled to testify before…
Researchers have developed a new process that could make it much cheaper to produce biofuels such as ethanol from plant waste and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Their approach, featuring an ammonia-salt based solvent that rapidly turns plant fibers into sugars needed to make ethanol, works well at close to room temperature, unlike conventional processes, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Green Chemistry.
While LED lighting can enhance plant growth in greenhouses, standards are needed to determine the optimal intensity and colors of light, according to Rutgers research that could help improve the energy efficiency of horticultural lighting products.
A research team led by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York has uncovered evidence that the transition toward forests as we know them today began earlier than typically believed.
Two Rutgers professors have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this year, an honor awarded to AAAS members by their peers. They join 441 other AAAS members named new fellows because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. The fellows will be presented an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Feb. 15 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2020 AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.
In one of the most diverse studies of the non-random medicinal plants selection by gender, age and exposure to outside influences from working with ecotourism projects, researchers worked with the Kichwa communities of Chichico Rumi and Kamak Maki in the Ecuadorian Amazon. They discovered a novel method to uncover the intracultural heterogeneity of traditional knowledge while testing the non-random selection of medicinal plants and exploring overuse and underuse of medicinal plant families in these communities.
Researchers will use a $2.25 federal grant to study how cells communicate within plants, and between plants and pathogens, to develop crops that are resilient to disease and other stresses. The work also could play a role in reengineering plants and microbes to improve biofuel production.
Scientists from Rutgers University and around the world have discovered an antibiotic produced by a soil bacterium from a Mexican tropical forest that may help lead to a “plant probiotic,” more robust plants and other antibiotics. Probiotics, which provide friendlier bacteria and health benefits for humans, can also be beneficial to plants, keeping them healthy and more robust. The new antibiotic, known as phazolicin, prevents harmful bacteria from getting into the root systems of bean plants, according to a Rutgers co-authored study in the journal Nature Communications.
In south Florida, growers and nurseries of tropical plants, vegetables and crops turn to such experts at the Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) of University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). At the heart of the center that is celebrating its 90th anniversary with a gala fund raising event at the Coral Gables Country Club on October 26 is the Plant Diagnostic Clinic, established to preserve the health of a unique tropical plant industry.
Rutgers plant scientists spent a decade evaluating and breeding tasty, downy mildew resistant basils Four new sweet basil varieties resistant to downy mildew disease – which destroys leaves and has been the bane of basil growers for a decade –…
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — While citrus growers continue to look for best management approaches to deal with the deadly greening disease, some scientists at the University of Florida will take an integrated look at how to protect young trees, by using…
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