Meadow Salsify

Carnivorous bladderworts

Utricularia are carnivorous plants and capture small organisms by means of bladder-like traps.
High-speed cameras give scientists the chance to see carnivorous bladderworts suck in their prey — all in about half a millisecond.

Credit: Interdisciplinary Physics Lab/CNRS and Joseph Fourier University, Plant Biomechanics Group/University of Freiburg

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragopogon_dubius

How computer science meets plant world

It is interesting to see how biologist and computer scientists share their expertise to study the complex world of the early responses of higher plants to abiotic stresses such as drought, flooding, heat, cold, ozone, and salt. 

The key to understanding the stress responses is signal transduction pathways, and the way researchers of  the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech are addressing the problem is quite unusual:

They will archive signaling pathways for abiotic stress responses in a database, ”Beacon",  a new systems biology tool that allows the plant biologist to construct and edit signaling pathways. With this information, it will be possible to integrate current and future data over multiple scales of a cell’s organization and across species.

Their work should allow the computational and statistical means to assess if the activity of one molecule causes a response in a second molecule. Innovative components of the Beacon system allow the possibility of simulating particular environmental conditions in order to identify potential new connections in these networks.

Let's wait and see how things will go!


http://www.eng.vt.edu/news/plant-biology-meets-computational-wizardry

Examining The Hummingbird Tongue

Hummingbirds can extend their tongues great distances — in some cases the length of their heads — to retrieve nectar. Biologist Margaret Rubega, of the University of Connecticut, explains how the structure of the hummingbird tongue traps liquid, and the evolution tales tongues tell.


The hummingbird tongue is a fluid trap, not a capillary tube

Alejandro Rico-Guevara1 and Margaret A. Rubega
PNAS May 2, 2011

Abstract

Hummingbird tongues pick up a liquid, calorie-dense food that cannot be grasped, a physical challenge that has long inspired the study of nectar-transport mechanics. Existing biophysical models predict optimal hummingbird foraging on the basis of equations that assume that fluid rises through the tongue in the same way as through capillary tubes. We demonstrate that the hummingbird tongue does not function like a pair of tiny, static tubes drawing up floral nectar via capillary action. Instead, we show that the tongue tip is a dynamic liquid-trapping device that changes configuration and shape dramatically as it moves in and out of fluids. We also show that the tongue–fluid interactions are identical in both living and dead birds, demonstrating that this mechanism is a function of the tongue structure itself, and therefore highly efficient because no energy expenditure by the bird is required to drive the opening and closing of the trap. Our results rule out previous conclusions from capillarity-based models of nectar feeding and highlight the necessity of developing a new biophysical model for nectar intake in hummingbirds. Our findings have ramifications for the study of feeding mechanics in other nectarivorous birds, and for the understanding of the evolution of nectarivory in general. We propose a conceptual mechanical explanation for this unique fluid-trapping capacity, with far-reaching practical applications (e.g., biomimetics).

Have you ever heard about Biomime?

The Swedish Center for Biomimetic Fiber Engineering (Biomime™) is a multidisciplinary Center of Excellence with cutting edge expertise at every level of the formation, modification and industrial utilization of wood, fibers and their constituent polymers. Their Mission is the understanding of the structure, self-assembly, and properties of complex plant cell walls in order to use the cell wall as a bioinspired model for advanced materials design. Mimicry of the natural self-assembly of cell wall macromolecules has a high potential to contribute to the future development of intelligent nanomaterials.

http://www.biomime.org/

Louie Schwartzberg: The hidden beauty of pollination

Pollination: it's vital to life on Earth, but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life," inspired by the vanishing of one of nature's primary pollinators, the honeybee.