Clever parasite
LiveScience reports of a strange behaviour of a vine plant which entwines with a host plant sucking its nutrients. But it does not stop with that mischief. It also indulges in biological engineering in hacks into the intra-plant communication system of the host plant and does a sort of a sql injection to turn the host’s behaviour to suit the interests of the parasite!
Clever indeed. This is what the report says, inter alia.
It’s bad enough when a parasite latches on to your body to suck you dry. But when it starts eavesdropping on your communications, enough already.
That’s what the parasitic dodder vine does. It consumes water and nutrients from a host plant and, scientists have just discovered, it taps into the host’s communication system.
Plants use RNA molecules to send messages to different parts, say from roots to leaves. In the new study, RNA molecules from a host tomato plant were found in the parasitic dodder vine, up to a foot away (30 cm) from where the dodder grafted itself to the host.
Picking up these RNA messengers could help the parasite synchronize its lifecycle with that of the host plant, explained Neelima Sinha at the University of California, Davis. “It might be important for the parasite to know when the host is flowering, so it can flower at the same time,” before the host dies, she said.
Read the full story in the Live Science web site.
Multicolored warning before China earthquake
Bizarre colorful (luminous/glowing) cloud phenomenon in the sky was observed about 30 minutes before the massive earthquake hit the China’s Sichuan province on 12th May, 2008. This was recorded in Tianshui, Gansu province 450km northeast of epicenter, by someone using a cell phone.
If only someone could read such natural forewarnings, the catastrophe could have been avoided. Or, at least the death toll of 60,000+ could have been reduced!
Indian farmer needs to be free and self-reliant
Here is a real success story of Balaji Shankar, a software engineer turned organic farmer who left his cozy city life for the sake of experimenting with natural (organic) farming in a remote village.
His Odyssey towards nature is documented in the web site of his “Nitya Farm“. Nitya in Sanskrit means “forever” denoting sustainability.
His is a family of 5 trying to return to nature. His web site contains details of his experiences, motives, opinions and ideas so that it may be of use to others wanting to return to Nature.
His lands are in Melanallur village, Mayavaram, Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India. He can be reached on e-mail : contact at earth dot org dot in.
I am sure that such endeavors will help infuse confidence in the minds of the languishing farmers. Such a movement would go a long way in reversing the hapless state of farmers resulting in a farmer suicide every 30 minutes in India.
All’s right with the world!
The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in his Heaven -
All’s right with the world!
~ Robert Browning in Pippa Passes
Pippa Passes was a dramatic piece, as much play as poetry, by Robert Browning published in 1841 as the first volume of his Bells and Pomegranates series.
Browning ends his poem with this verse:-
But at night, brother Howlet, far over the woods,
Toll the world to thy chantry;
Sing to the bats’ sleek sisterhoods
Full complines with gallantry:
Then, owls and bats, cowls and twats,
Monks and nuns, in a cloister’s moods,
Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry!
And what are “twats”, anyone?
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I am S.K!
Ok, what's the big deal, you may ask! But you may miss a good deal if you do not dwell deep into this web site, specially hand-crafted for you. But what about me, the person? Wait, I am not good at making things up. If you stumble upon a good-sounding résumé, please pass it on to me!
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