“Secretary and professional journalist Marco Respinti interviews well known Dr. Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig, retired head researcher at Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research on a fascinating journey through genetics of plants, cybernetics, “sacred cows” and Intelligent Design.”
Plants
Horizontal gene transfer between plants and insects acknowledged
So what becomes of all the Darwinian casuistry around “fitness” and “costly fitness” if things can happen so simply as this? The article emphasizes the benefits of studying “evolution.” Indeed, but that can’t mean fronting Darwinism 101 any more.
Tree fern, once considered “evolutionary dead-end,” turns out to have been advanced
Curiously, we keep finding that ancient life forms were more complex or advanced than thought, not that they were simpler and more primitive than thought. What does that imply about the drivers of our expectations?
Caterpillars stifle plants’ chemical warning cries
Findings: “We have discovered a new strategy whereby an insect uses saliva to inhibit the release of airborne plant defenses through direct manipulation of plant stomata,” said Gary Felton, professor and head of the Department of Entomology at Penn State, noting that stomata are tiny pores on plant leaves that regulate gas exchange”
Why did Darwin consider flowers an “abominable mystery”?
He was referring to their abrupt and unaccounted for appearance.
Researchers discover an alarm plants use when attacked by munching critters
Researchers: The receptor detects conserved plant protein fragments accidently released as digestive products during caterpillar munching, thereby enabling plant recognition of attack.
There is now a philosophy of plant biology—and a call for abstracts
Everyone knows plants don’t have minds but they do have a lot of intelligence. Just an accident or part of the intelligence massively inherent in nature? From what source? Darwinism grows increasingly difficult to believe.
Venus fly-trap uses calcium to remember when to shut the trap
Plants communicate in ways that we are only beginning to learn.
Devolution: The “surprising” gene costs of the carnivorous lifestyle to plants
Researchers: “To their surprise, the researchers discovered that the plants do not need a particularly large number of genes for carnivory. Instead, the three species studied are actually among the most gene-poor plants known. ” Yes, because – as Mike Behe says – Darwin Devolves.
Claim: Plants are conscious!
Expect more crazy. Salad is murder, did you know? That time of year.
There is an “underlying design principle” in plants?
“Our model shows that by absorbing only very specific colors of light, photosynthetic organisms may automatically protect themselves against sudden changes — or ‘noise’ — in solar energy, resulting in remarkably efficient power conversion,” said Gabor, an associate professor of physics and astronomy, who led the study appearing today in the journal Science.
Billion-year-old algae (“leaves, … branches …”) raise some interesting questions
Like any real history, evolution is not driven by a single force or idea. Horizontal gene transfer from bacteria obviates the quest for an “ancestor” seaweed. Maybe there isn’t one.
Could we bring back extinct plants?
So far a Siberian flower and a date palm have been brought back. The idea is that restoring n extinct animal like the woolly mammoth would just be a curiosity but some of these plants may be staple foods or useful medicines.
Granville Sewell: Bladderworts are irreducibly complex
Carnivorous plants construct “mousetraps” which are no use to the plant until they succeed. How then did they evolve randomly by chance?
Huge discordance between gene trees in a new phylogenetic study
“Deep phylogenetic incongruence” sounds like journalspeak for “our current phylogenetic tree is a hot mess.”