Editorials

There has been much discussion of late concerning ‘plant blindness’, the general relegation of the plant world into little more than scenery. Along with not seeing plants, are we also failing to hear them?

There is more to becoming a successful scientist than just developing good experimental technique.

Over the last few months a new article type has appeared in our table of contents; the Research Briefing. What are they and why have we started to publish them?

With plentiful knowledge of gene function and the development of technologies like gene editing, breeders are fully equipped to address grand challenges and eliminate various forms of hunger.

Classification is hard, especially in biology, where things rarely fit into neat categories. Perhaps it is time to abandon the term ‘plant’ for something more functional.

The idea of adapting plants to produce vaccines is almost as old as the genetic engineering of plants itself. Recent clinical trials suggest that it is an approach whose time may finally have come.

It has been calculated that 14% of the world’s tree species are yet to be identified. But is that a lot or a little?

This year the United Nations is unwittingly bringing together seaweed, a pair of nineteenth-century glass sculptors, bovine teeth, photosynthetic efficiency and neurodegenerative diseases. Find out how.

Before letting go of the year 2021 completely, we highlight a very few of the important events it contained, both global and personal, scientific and otherwise.

Peer review has many aspects where bias is inevitable. Acknowledging this is the first step to managing it.

Anthropogenic climate change is often portrayed as a consequence of industrialization powered by fossil fuel consumption. However, agriculture also plays a role in this complex system of causes and effects.

Over this summer the world’s elite athletes have been competing at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Perhaps it is time to celebrate the athletic abilities of plants.

During the past year, global prices of major crops have continued to soar, and the proportion of undernourished people has increased globally. The food security situation is not optimistic.

Maintaining a global food supply in the face of climate change will require the development of new crops that can thrive at higher temperatures. And that means using water more efficiently.

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is still a long way away. However, it is already a good time to reflect on how we have tried to maintain a vibrant research community.

With public understanding and academic enthusiasm for plant science dwindling, now is the time to take the fascination for plants to the people.

After the tumultuous weeks and months surrounding the 2020 United States presidential election, the President’s choice for a key post in his administration gives a broad outline of how land-use policy and politics could change going forward.

The rapid development of plant biotechnologies is profoundly shaping crop breeding and catalysing the next revolution in agriculture.

The year 2020 was dominated by COVID-19 and the multiple unforeseen challenges it created. As we enter a second year of the pandemic those difficulties continue, but so too does the resilience of the research community.

January is traditionally a time for looking back over years past and making plans for the year to come. For Nature Plants, this means a first transformative step towards open access.