Science Report

San Francisco Chronicle (SF Gate) from staff & wire reports
February 19, 2001

Other news from the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, being held through tomorrow in San Francisco:

Chemical Cues Plants To Straighten

Even when they're knocked over by wind or rain, many plants quickly return to an upright position. Now scientists have discovered the chemical that plants use to tell which way is up.

The signaling chemical, which is also present in the human brain, instructs wheat and corn plants to bend back to their proper orientation within minutes or hours of being tipped over, a North Carolina State University researcher reported yesterday.

The research was funded by BOth the U.S. Department of Agriculture and NASA.

The space agency cares a great deal aBOut plants and gravity, because if humans are ever to go on long trips into space, they'll need to grow plants along the way.
"We'll need to use plants to turn carBOn dioxide into oxygen, to cleanse water and to provide food," said North Carolina State BOtany professor Wendy BOss.