In the News
Recent Salk news from the Plant biology team
How plants quickly adapt to shifting environmental conditions
LA JOLLA—Scientists—and gardeners—have long known that plants grow taller and flower sooner when they are shaded by close-growing neighbors. Now, for the first time, researchers at the Salk Institute have …
Transforming atmospheric carbon into industrially useful materials
LA JOLLA—Plants are unparalleled in their ability to capture CO2 from the air, but this benefit is temporary, as leftover crops release carbon back into the atmosphere, mostly through decomposition. …
New protein helps carnivorous plants sense and trap their prey
LA JOLLA—The brush of an insect’s wing is enough to trigger a Venus flytrap to snap shut, but the biology of how these plants sense and respond to touch is …
Salk Professor Wolfgang Busch named first incumbent of the Hess Chair in Plant Science
LA JOLLA—Salk Professor Wolfgang Busch has been recognized for his contributions and dedication to advancing science through research by being named the first holder of the Hess Chair in Plant …
$200,000 gifted to Salk’s Coastal Plant Restoration project
Recently, donors completed a matching challenge, gifting $200,000 to Salk’s Coastal Plant Restoration (CPR) program to address increasingly urgent needs to preserve some of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs and …
Research catches up to world’s fastest-growing plant
LA JOLLA—Wolffia, also known as duckweed, is the fastest-growing plant known, but the genetics underlying this strange little plant’s success have long been a mystery to scientists. Now, thanks to …
Bezos Earth Fund donates $30 million to Salk Institute for innovative climate change research
The Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) is an innovative, scalable and bold approach to fight climate change by optimizing a plant’s natural ability to capture and store carbon and …
Salk Institute and Sempra Energy announce project to advance plant-based carbon capture and storage research
SAN DIEGO and LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute and Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) today announced a new project to advance plant-based carbon capture and sequestration research, education and implementation to help …
Joanne Chory wins the 2020 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize
Joanne Chory, who pioneered the application of molecular genetics to plant biology and transformed our understanding of photosynthesis, will receive the 2020 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize, Rockefeller’s preeminent award recognizing …
Salk promotes Wolfgang Busch to full professor
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute has promoted Wolfgang Busch to the rank of professor for his groundbreaking contributions to plant biology. The promotion was based on recommendations by Salk faculty and …
Plant geneticist Todd Michael joins Salk Institute
LA JOLLA—Todd Michael will return to Salk as a research professor in the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, where he will oversee his own research group as well as …
How plants sound the alarm about danger
LA JOLLA—Just like humans and other animals, plants have hormones. One role of plant hormones is to perceive trouble—whether an insect attack, drought or intense heat or cold—and then signal …
The Salk Institute to receive $12.5 million gift from Hess Corporation to accelerate development of plant-based carbon capture and storage
LA JOLLA—Salk’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) will receive a $12.5 million gift from Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) to advance two projects to enhance plants’ natural ability to store carbon and …
Machine learning helps plant science turn over a new leaf
LA JOLLA—Father of genetics Gregor Mendel spent years tediously observing and measuring pea plant traits by hand in the 1800s to uncover the basics of genetic inheritance. Today, botanists can …
Key enzyme found in plants could guide development of medicines and other products
LA JOLLA—Plants can do many amazing things. Among their talents, they can manufacture compounds that help them repel pests, attract pollinators, cure infections and protect themselves from excess temperatures, drought …
Getting to the root of how plants tolerate too much iron
LA JOLLA—Iron is essential for plant growth, but with heavy rainfall and poor aeration, many acidic soils become toxic with excess iron. In countries with dramatic flood seasons, such as …
Gene identified that will help develop plants to fight climate change
LA JOLLA—Hidden underground networks of plant roots snake through the earth foraging for nutrients and water, similar to a worm searching for food. Yet, the genetic and molecular mechanisms that …
Editing of RNA may play a role in chloroplast-to-nucleus communication
LA JOLLA—What will a three-degree-warmer world look like? How will plants fare in more extreme weather conditions? When experiencing stress or damage from various sources, plants use chloroplast-to-nucleus communication to …
Media Coverage
Plant a garden that helps the planet by devouring carbon
July 06, 2021
– Popular Science
Joanne Chory is using plants to save the planet
April 28, 2021
– The Washington Post
Harnessing plants to clean the air
Row after row of plants are being tested to see how much carbon dioxide they can suck out of the air.
April 21, 2021
– CBS8
Professor Wolfgang Busch – Getting to the Root of Roots
April 7, 2021
– The Biotech Podcast
Researchers Find How Venus Flytrap Plants Can React To Touch
March 31, 2021
– KPBS
The World’s Fastest-Growing Plant Could Help Solve Food Scarcity and Climate Change
February 21, 2021
– Freethink
Scientists search for ways to lock more carbon in the soil
Listen to the podcast»
-Yale Climate Connections
How to Bury Carbon? Let Plants Do the Dirty Work
December 2020
-Nautilus | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Down to Earth: Plant Power
The Salk Institute is spear heading an innovative program using crop plants to try to mitigate climate change.
December 4, 2020
– 7 News San Diego
San Diego Coastal Marshes May Become Important Tools To Battle Climate Change
December 1, 2020
– KPBS
Salk Institute harnessing power of plants to reverse climate change
November 26, 2020
– ABC 10 News San Diego
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos gives Salk Institute $30 million to help fight climate change
November 17, 2020
– The San Diego Union Tribune
Bezos makes first donations from $10 billion Earth Fund for fighting climate change
November 16, 2020
– The Washington Post
San Diego Scientists Hope Plants Can Store A Lot More Carbon
November 12, 2020
– KPBS
The Sorghum Solution?: The Salk Institute’s plant-based research to battle climate change gets a boost
November 10, 2020
– The San Diego Union Tribune
The weeds that could save the world
October 18, 2020
– Palatinate
Carbon-Sucking Bionic Weeds Are New Front in Climate Change War
September 25, 2020
– Bloomberg Businessweek
Cropland vs Climate Change: A Conversation with Wolfgang Busch
September 1, 2020
– Discover Magazine
Into the Light: A Profile of Joanne Chory
March 1, 2020
– The Scientist
The power of plants to fight climate change
December, 2019
– The Economist
Salk Scientists Plan To Combat Climate Change With Plants
August 17, 2019
– KPBS
Can ‘Supercharged’ Plants Solve the Climate Crisis?
July 20, 2019
– Foreign Policy
Deep roots, edited genes and a plan to fight climate change with supercharged plants
July 18, 2019
– New Atlas
By making plant roots grow deeper, these geneticists hope to curb climate change
July 17, 2019
– PBS News Hour
The five: genetic fixes for the climate crisis
July 14, 2019
– The Guardian
Scientists Are Genetically Engineering Plants to Fight Climate Change
July 12, 2019
– Vice
The Plan to Grab the World’s Carbon with Supercharged Plants
April 26, 2019
– Wired
Scientists work to alter plants to fight climate crisis
April 17, 2019
– CNN
Salk Institute gets $35 million for ‘audacious’ plan to fight global warming with carbon-hungry plants
April 16, 2019
– The San Diego Union Tribune
Could a superplant save the planet?
Jan 31, 2019
– Financial Times
Scientists aim to fight climate change with super plants
Nov 17, 2017
– LA Times
Salk scientists describe strategy to address climate change using plants
Voice of America (VOA)
