Death Valley might need a name change!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
High temperatures can be deadly for plants. But can nature beat the heat?
Enter Seung Yon Rhee and team from Michigan State University.
They went shrub watching in California’s Death Valley. There, they discovered a neat behavior of the Arizona Honeysweet plant.
In summer heat, the plant reshapes its cells to manage energy production more efficiently. It also activates genes that protect against heat damage and keep photosynthesis going!
Gene splicing could help crops stay cool under rising temperatures!
The genome is sequenced, so it’s only a matter of time!
Because – to quote Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park – life finds a way!
Reference: Prado, K., Xue, B., Johnson, J. E., Field, S., Stata, M., Hawkins, C. L., Hsia, R.-C., Liu, H., Cheng, S., & Rhee, S. Y. (2025). Photosynthetic acclimation is a key contributor to exponential growth of a desert plant in Death Valley summer. Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.10.004