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PLANT SCIENCES
Never too late

Flowers are more resilient than they appear. They shoot up against all odds. The credit goes to genetic matter called microRNA that inhibit protein formation crucial to flowering in young plants. External cues like sunlight make them flower. But in the absence of cues, too, flowers do blossom; the activity of microRNA decreases with age ensuring enough flowering proteins are produced before the plant dies (Cell, August 21).

HEALTH SCIENCES
 An anti-cancer bacterium

Salinispora tropica
Cancerous cells divide and grow much faster than healthy cells. As a consequence, cancer cells accumulate larger quantities of waste. The waste is managed by protein molecules called proteasomes which are a cell

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