Scientists with the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization in Eastern Japan have claimed to identify the gene responsible for the short flower life of a species of morning glory. The gene responsible has been named EPHEMERAL1, and might one day be extremely important in lengthening flower life. Putting what they learned into action, the team made the effect of this gene weaker and prolonged the flower’s life by almost half. Kenichi Shibuya, one of the main researchers, stated, “Unmodified flowers started withering 13 hours after they opened, but flowers that had been genetically modified stayed open for 24 hours.” He also stated that there is a possibility of similar results in short-lived flowers and that genes of cut flowers could be suppressed, just like he did in the study to live flowers.
Grant Regen
RBC***
Speed Stories
Tri-colored Blackbirds are on the brink of exstinction in California. Over the past six years there has been a 64 percent decrease in the number of the birds according to a survey done by UC Davis. -PS
The Hubble Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee, which decides what the busy spacecraft will record next, is taking a new idea in high consideration. The committee was recommended to use recording time to search for Kuiper Belt Objects, icy rocks about the size of cities at the edge of our solar system, in a very specific area of the sky. The New Horizons spacecraft, planned to visit Pluto in 2015, would then swing by these objects after Pluto. Currently it has no other fly-bys planned. -GR
A new study published by three distinguished organizations shows that Caribbean coral reefs have been declining in population by 50% since the 1970’s. If current treatment continues, the population of coral is thought to drop to close to zero in twenty years. The study also found that the damage could easily be stopped and rebuilt if certain changes were made. -GR
Scientists Prolong Life of Flowers