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Two ion channels (structures in cell membranes that allow ions to pass through) have been genetically engineered to reveal the stress responses of plants non-invasively. When triggered by light, one channel provoked responses to osmotic stress (caused by water shortage) and the other induced immune responses to biotic stress (such as wounding or a pathogen).
Many UK universities are in a financial crisis. But the government is leaving them to flounder, treating higher education as a private-sector industry and research as a public investment.
As a new academic year dawns, international competition, government policies and inflationary pressures could be pushing some universities to the brink of bankruptcy.
An undersea cable promises to improve Britain’s relationship with Europe, and a poet’s attempt at ornithology is debunked, in Nature’s weekly step back in time.