Many vegetables, fruits and ornamental flowers you buy in shops, have been treated with chemicals. The reason for this is that herbivorous insects and pathogens that would otherwise destroy these crops had to be killed. The use of pesticides and insecticides is not harmless and... click to read more

Fungi are almost everywhere. By influencing important processes, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling in forests around the globe, helping plants acquire nutrients from the soil, or helping them cope with enemies that munch on their leaves, fungi are important players on key aspects of... click to read more

Everyone knows that eating fruit is important for good health, being full of vitamins and essential elements. The delicious taste of a fruit is mainly determined by its sugar and acid composition. Indeed, fruit contains several sugars with different properties. For example, in peach, there... click to read more

Did you ever try the nectar of a honeysuckle flower as a kid? Maybe you have memories of plucking the numerous, small, white and yellow flowers from the bush's branches to get at that single drop of sweetness inside each one. If these plants were... click to read more

Plants hold extraordinary communication devices enabling them to interact with other species: the flowers. The dazzling palettes and the tantalizing floral scents function as complex signals that mediate the interactions among plants and other organisms, primarily with their animal pollinators. The language that plants use... click to read more