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“Uomini che amano le piante” is in the bookstores
The new book of Prof. Mancuso is now available in the bookstores (the English translation is in preparation) http://www.giunti.it/libri/saggistica/uomini-che-amano-le-piante/
Biofilm socio-biology
Bacteria exist in populations and communities and often show coordinated behavior to perform specific function: biofilms are one of them. Biofilm formation is a well-regulated developmental process that results in the formation of a complex community of microorganisms, where external and internal signal are integrated, and coordinated timed series of multicellular behaviors are associated with […]
Virtual Water
Food security, intended as the ability to meet the energy needs of the world population, is tightly linked with water availability, as the latter is essential for food production. According to FAO, an average of 1.000 to 2.000 liters of water is required to produce one kilo of wheat, and 13.000 to 15.000 liters to […]
Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation is the ability of some plants and/or associated microorganisms to remove and/or render harmless environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals or organic contaminants that can be present in soil. Different techniques of phytoremediation exist. Among them are phytostabilization, which consists in the complete immobilization of the metals (or at least in a reduction of […]
Bioacustic
Many biological organisms use sound waves or vibrations for orientation or communication. Interestingly, apart from chemical signalling, much of animal communication depends on propagating waves, such as light, acoustic, electromagnetic waves. Evolutionarily, the reception and processing of the energy embedded in such waves is advantageous, as it allows for the gain of information about the […]
Biomimetics
After millions of years of Darwinian evolution, natural organisms have evolved in a continuous struggle for survival, and represent optimal responses to their environment. For this reason, Nature has evolved many solutions of the problems we are grappling with: energy, climate control, non-toxic chemistry, transportation, packaging, and many more. Nature inspired human achievement and has […]
Space Biology
The Space Biology section of LINV mainly investigates the effects of gravity-changing conditions (microgravity and hyper-gravity) on plant growth and metabolism, as micro and hyper-gravity can be considered as a primary source of stress for plants. Our main subject is the study of the first events in the signalling chain of gravireaction after the onset […]
Stress Physiology
Plants are dynamic and very sensitive organisms that actively and competitively forage for limited resources. They are bound to places, and for this reason they have developed an exceptional plasticity in term of adaptation. The environment affects plants in many ways. Biotic factors results from the interaction with other organisms: infections, mechanical demage, herbivory and […]
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