A recent study explored the role of public authorities in pre- and debunking misinformation, finding that source credibility impacts outcomes. For individuals who trust public authorities, their debunks were more effective in reducing misinformation credibility and agreement. However, for those with low trust, public authority debunks backfired, slightly increasing credibility of the misinformation. This highlights the need for tailored communication strategies rather than one-size-fits-all approaches. The study has involved over 5,000 people.
Scientists have found that rice plants use a special gene, NRT1.1B, to attract helpful microbes that aid in nitrogen absorption. This discovery means rice can grow more efficiently with less fertilizer, benefiting farmers and the environment. The gene acts like a green thumb, fostering beneficial bacterial communities around the roots.
The fascinating world of plants will be once more in the spotlight thanks to the EPSO, which invites you to celebrate the sixth Fascination of Plants Day on and around May 18th 2022. For this purpose, scientific institutions together with schools, farmers and companies will offer a variety of plant-based interactive events and activities for all interested people from toddlers to grandparents.
This is the fourth post of the series, celebrating the brilliant winners of the #plantscistory2021 contest and their stories. Benedetta Gori is a young scientist with a highly interdisciplinary background. After a degree in Food Science, and two Masters in Ethnobotany and Plant Taxonomy, she is now working as part of the Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia (UPFC) project, focusing on the conservation and revitalisation of neglected edible plants.
This is the third post of the series, celebrating the brilliant winners of the #plantscistory2021 contest and their stories. Maria Park is a PhD Student at the University of Minnesota. Her interests are forest biodiversity loss, plant ecophysiology, climate change, plant-soil interactions, remote sensing/spectral biology, and art-based science communication.
Meet Laura Kor, a conservation scientist undertaking a PhD at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and King’s College London. This is the second post of a series, celebrating the brilliant winners of the #plantscistory2021 contest and their stories.
Meet Dr. Verena Sesin, an environmental toxicologist and recent graduate. This is the first post of a new series, celebrating the brilliant winners of the #plantscistory2021 contest and their stories.
We are in the middle of a pandemic, but the experience is different for everyone. This was expressed beautifully in an original tweet by Damian Barr, later expanded by another author into a poem. “We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar.”
‘Science is not finished until it’s communicated’ – These words reflect a long-held commitment to the dissemination of scientific research and findings to the public.
We received 15 brilliant entries and although some of them were submitted a (tiny) bit late, all were accepted for consideration in the competition. We decided to allow some flexibility given the current global situation (pandemic, lockdowns, and levels of quarantines). After carefully considering all of the entries, we are delighted to announce the following winners.
Category: Scicomm
The winner in the ‘SciComm’ category is Gabriela Doria (@gabidoria), a Colombian botanist and paleobotanist interested in the evolution and diversification of plants at different time scales. Gabriela’s clear video effectively communicates how she uses morphological, molecular, and ecological approaches to address questions on flower development, pollination biology, systematic affinities of fossil plants, and phenotypic variation of living and fossil plants in response to environmental changes. She is currently a PhD student in the Department of Plant Sciences at Cambridge University (UK).
The winner in the ‘Plant Health’ category is Ilaria Martino (@_chapeau13_), an Italian PhD Student at Agroinnova (Torino, Italy), where she is working on developing a plant pathogen isolation method. Her video was creatively shot and very well put together, with the researcher as the main focus while the different stages of the plant pathogen isolation and determination method were portrayed. Excellent!
In addition to the board of directors of The Global Plant Council, which acted as the judging panel, the editorial and communications team at Plants, People, Planet were also impressed by the quality of the videos submitted to the competition, and the breadth of research communicated. You can watch more of the submissions in the playlist below. What is clear from these videos is the variety of ways in which plant science is of great importance for the wellbeing of people, and the planet that we call home. We were very pleased to see the creativity employed in communicating these concepts. Congratulations to the winners, Gabriela and Ilaria, and very well done to all of the entrants.
To watch all contributions you may watch the full playlist on Youtube, or you may visit the partial lists created on Twitter or Instagram.
Plants, People, Planet is an Open Access journal that aims to promote outstanding plant-based research in its broadest sense and to celebrate everything new, innovative, and exciting in plant sciences that is relevant to society and people’s daily lives. The journal is owned by the New Phytologist Trust, a not-for-profit organisation focused on the promotion and advancement of plant science. Find out more.
About The Global Plant Council
The Global Plant Council is a coalition of 28 national, regional, and international organizations representing plant, crop, agricultural, and environmental sciences across the globe. GPC aim is to promote plant science across borders & disciplines, supporting those involved in research, education, and training, and to increase awareness of plant research in science and society. Find out more.
