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Can Plants be Altruistic? You Bet, Says New CU-Boulder-led Study

By Guest PostFebruary 4, 2013Natureanimal altruism, arnold arboretum, behavior of embryos, bit of tissue, boulder, chi chih wu, chimps, corn kernels, dogs, dolphins, double fertilization, ecology, embryo, embryo and endosperm, endosperm, endosperm in seeds, evolutionary biology, flowering plants, fundamental laws, harvard university, hetero fertilization, indian corn, injured mates, millennia, Nature, orphaned kittens, pamela diggle, plants are altruistic, pollen grains, rare phenomenon, siblings, university of colorado, william ned friedman

We’ve all heard examples of animal altruism: Dogs caring for orphaned kittens, chimps sharing food or dolphins nudging injured mates to the surface. Now, a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder suggests some plants are altruistic too.

The researchers looked at corn, in which each fertilized seed contained two “siblings” — an embryo and a corresponding bit of tissue known as endosperm that feeds the embryo as the seed grows, said CU-Boulder Professor Pamela Diggle. They compared the growth and behavior of the embryos and endosperm in seeds sharing the same mother and father with the growth and behavior of embryos and endosperm that had genetically different parents. (more…)

NASA Says Comet Elenin Gone and Should Be Forgotten

Comet Elenin is no more.

Latest indications are this relatively small comet has broken into even smaller, even less significant, chunks of dust and ice. This trail of piffling particles will remain on the same path as the original comet, completing its unexceptional swing through the inner solar system this fall.

“Elenin did as new comets passing close by the sun do about two percent of the time: It broke apart,” said Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Elenin’s remnants will also act as other broken-up comets act. They will trail along in a debris cloud that will follow a well-understood path out of the inner solar system. After that, we won’t see the scraps of comet Elenin around these parts for almost 12 millennia.” (more…)

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Can Plants be Altruistic? You Bet, Says New CU-Boulder-led Study

NASA Says Comet Elenin Gone and Should Be Forgotten