Mary Williams

I studied Biochemistry at Berkeley (BA), Plant Molecular Biology at Rockefeller (PhD), did a postdoc at Berkeley with Ian Sussex, and then spent 14 years as a Biology professor at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. In 2009 I started working at the American Society of Plant Biologists as Features Editor of the journal Plant Cell and the developer of Teaching Tools in Plant Biology. My passion lies in making it a little bit easier for students of all ages to understand plants and plant science research. I live in Glasgow, Scotland, with my family and our much adored dog.

Should I stay or should I go? Abundance as a new null hypothesis for determination of mRNA mobility

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This week’s Research in Focus is reprinted from an In Brief published by Science Editor Nancy Hofmann in The Plant Cell, which summarizes an article newly published by  Calderwood et al. This study explores the distribution and identity of mobile mRNA within the plant body, and presents a hypothesis that abundance in companion cells is … Read more

Phytochromes in diatoms: Sensing far-red light in the deep-blue sea

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This week’s Research in Focus is reprinted from an In Brief published by Science Editor Jennifer Mach in The Plant Cell, which summarizes an article newly published by  Fortunato et al. This study explores the role of diatom phytochromes in sensing red and far-red light. In land plants, phytochromes sense red and far-red light and … Read more

Growing curiosity: Using plants to engage students in hands-on science education

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By Courtney Price, Education & Outreach Specialist, Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center & Center for Applied Plant Sciences In order to engage students in the learning process it is important to provide opportunities for hands-on activities that bring to life important science concepts. However, for some educators the task of developing new lesson plans that demonstrate … Read more

Jurassic Park? No, Precambrian Rubisco

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In a study reminiscent of Jurassic Park, scientists have resurrected an extinct enzyme and watched it respond to today’s world. Rubisco is much older than dinosaurs; it is an ancient enzyme, billions of years old, and predates the origin of eukaryotes. Rubisco is found in all photosynthetic organisms, be they bacteria, algae or plant, as … Read more

Behind the scenes with Nature’s Depth author John Palka

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Many scientists are exploring the use of blogs to share their experiences of science and nature with a wider audience. I asked John Palka, retired neuroscientist (University of Wasthington) and author of the popular blog Nature’s Depths how he got started blogging and if he has any advice to those considering blogging.  Here are his … Read more