Tuesday, October 17, 2023

New recipe for efficient, environmentally friendly battery recycling

CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, are now presenting a new and efficient way to recycle metals from spent electric car batteries. The method allows recovery of 100 per cent of the aluminium and 98 per cent of the lithium in electric car batteries. At the same time, the loss of valuable raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and manganese is minimised. No expensive or harmful chemicals are required in the process because the researchers use oxalic acid – an organic acid that can be found in the plant kingdom.

“So far, no one has managed to find exactly the right conditions for separating this much lithium using oxalic acid, whilst also removing all the aluminium. Since all batteries contain aluminium, we need to be able to remove it without losing the other metals,” says Léa Rouquette, PhD student at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers.

In Chalmers’ battery recycling lab, Rouquette and research leader Martina Petranikova show how the new method works. The lab has spent car battery cells and, in the fume cupboard, their pulverised contents. This takes the form of a finely ground black powder dissolved in a transparent liquid – oxalic acid. Rouquette produces both the powder and the liquid in something reminiscent of a kitchen mixer. Although it looks as easy as brewing coffee, the exact procedure is a unique and recently published scientific breakthrough. By fine-tuning temperature, concentration and time, the researchers have come up with a remarkable new recipe for using oxalic acid – an environmentally friendly ingredient that can be found in plants such as rhubarb and spinach.

“We need alternatives to inorganic chemicals. One of the biggest bottlenecks in today’s processes is removing residual materials like aluminium. This is an innovative method that can offer the recycling industry new alternatives and help solve problems that hinder development,” says Martina Petranikova, Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers.

Reversing order and avoiding the loss

The aqueous-based recycling method is called hydrometallurgy. In traditional hydrometallurgy, all the metals in an EV battery cell are dissolved in an inorganic acid. Then, you remove the “impurities” such as aluminium and copper. Lastly, you can separately recover valuable metals such as cobalt, nickel, manganese and lithium. Even though the amount of residual aluminium and copper is small, it requires several purification steps and each step in this process can cause lithium loss. With the new method, the researchers reverse the order and recover the lithium and aluminium first. Thus, they can reduce the waste of valuable metals needed to make new batteries.

The latter part of the process, in which the black mixture is filtered, is also reminiscent of brewing coffee. While aluminium and lithium end up in the liquid, the other metals are left in the “solids”. The next step in the process is to separate aluminium and lithium.

“Since the metals have very different properties, we don’t think it’ll be hard to separate them. Our method is a promising new route for battery recycling – a route that definitely warrants further exploration,” says Rouquette.
“As the method can be scaled up, we hope it can be used in industry in future years,” says Petranikova.

Petranikova’s research group has spent many years conducting cutting-edge research in the recycling of metals found in lithium-ion batteries. The group is involved in various collaborations with companies to develop electric car battery recycling and is a partner in major research and development projects, such as Volvo Cars’ and Northvolt's Nybat project.

Video: Demonstration of the new and efficient method for recycling metals from electric car batteries. Léa Rouquette explains the process in the lab at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

More about the research

The scientific article Complete and selective recovery of lithium from EV lithium-ion batteries: Modeling and optimization using oxalic acid as a leaching agent was published in the journal Separation and Purification Technology. The study was conducted by Léa Rouquette, Martina Petranikova and Nathália Vieceli at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
The research was funded by the Swedish Energy Agency (52009-1), BASE Batteries Sweden, Vinnova (2019-00064) and the experiments were conducted with spent electric car batteries from Volvo Cars, processed by Stena Recycling and Akkuser Oy.

Léa Rouquette, PhD student, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers.
CREDIT
Image: Chalmers University of Technology | Henrik Sandsjö

The researchers at Chalmers work with real spent car batteries from Volvo Cars. Here is a battery module, holding 14 battery cells.

After the aqueous-based recycling method, the aluminium and lithium end up in the (greenish blue) liquid. The other metals, such as cobalt, nickel and manganese, remain in the dark “solids”, shown on the plate.

The finely ground contents of a car battery cell are added to and dissolved in oxalic acid. By fine-tuning the temperature, concentration and time, the researchers have come up with an excellent new recipe for using oxalic acid – an environmentally friendly reactant ingredient found in plants such as rhubarb and spinach.

Martina Petranikova, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers.

CREDIT

Chalmers University of Technology | Anna-Lena Lundqvist

Demonstration of the new and efficient method for recycling metals from electric car batteries. Léa Rouquette explains the process in the lab at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

Demonstration of the new metho [VIDEO] | EurekAlert! Science News Releases

JOURNAL

Separation and Purification Technology

DOI

10.1016/j.seppur.2023.124143

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Complete and selective recovery of lithium from EV lithium-ion batteries: Modeling and optimization using oxalic acid as a leaching agent

New publication reveals surprising insights into dog sterilization, obesity

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MORRIS ANIMAL FOUNDATION

A brown Labrador retriever sits next to a brown and black dog — IMAGE:
A NEW SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATION IN THE Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association INDICATES THAT OBESITY RATES IN STERILIZED DOGS VARY BY BREED SIZE.
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CREDIT: SEPPE MACHIELSEN

DENVER/Oct. 17, 2023 – As researchers continue to delve into the effects – both negative and positive – of spaying and neutering dogs, data included in a recent scientific publication in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association indicate that obesity rates in sterilized dogs vary by breed size.

In the United States, about 70-80% of dogs are sterilized. This is beneficial as it helps reduce unwanted births, according to Valerie Benka, Program Director at the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs, and a member of the multidisciplinary research team that performed the study. However, questions remain about the health and behavioral impacts of the procedure.

“There are alarming rates of obesity among dogs in the United States and several other countries,” Benka said. “On its own, being overweight or obese is not good for a dog’s health, well-being or longevity, plus it can contribute to other health problems.”

The data presented in this publication suggest that the risk of obesity differs with body size. Sterilized small dogs face the highest risk, while giant-breed dogs have the lowest. Surprisingly, large breeds like Labrador retrievers, German shepherds and golden retrievers exhibit obesity rates akin to small dogs.

Additionally, the research highlights that the timing of sterilization plays a crucial role. Sterilizing dogs at one year of age tends to result in a lower risk of obesity. However, the optimal timing varies by breed size. Notably, large dogs sterilized at three or six months face a higher risk of obesity, a significant finding.

Furthermore, the data presented demonstrate that, when all other factors are equal – breed, size and age at sterilization – males have a higher risk of obesity compared to females, contrary to common assumptions, Benka added.

Benka said unlike other studies on this topic, this Morris Animal Foundation-funded research drew on a comprehensive dataset of more than 155,000 dog records from U.S. Banfield Pet Hospital clinics. This project also differed from previous studies by including both purebred and mixed-breed dogs, and differentiating between sizes among those mixed breeds, providing a more representative sample of the dog population.

“We are tremendously grateful to Morris Animal Foundation for recognizing the importance of this project and supporting it,” Benka said. “The Foundation is supporting comprehensive research, our work with a fantastic statistical data analyst and expert team, and our ability to publish our preliminary and future papers open access so that everyone can view them.”

Next, Benka said she and her team are working on a publication leveraging this data to analyze the outcomes of specific breeds. Additionally, they will explore the correlation between sterilization, obesity and cranial cruciate ligament injuries in dogs.

About Morris Animal Foundation
Morris Animal Foundation’s mission is to bridge science and resources to advance the health of animals. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Denver, it is one of the largest nonprofit animal health research organizations in the world, funding nearly $160 million in more than 3,000 critical animal health studies to date across a broad range of species. Learn more at morrisanimalfoundation.org.

Media Contact: Annie Mehl

JOURNAL

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association

Dogs prefer food over toys, according to science

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Man’s best friend is as treat-obsessed as we all thought.

Nine out of 10 dogs chose food over toys in the first study of its kind, conducted by University of Florida psychologists. The study allowed dogs to pick their favorite food and favorite toy, then put them head to head in an experiment simulating a training experience. Most dogs responded more strongly to the food reward.

“I was surprised, but nobody’s looked at how dogs will work for toys versus food before,” said Nicole Dorey, a lecturer in the UF Department of Psychology who performed the study with her students and other collaborators.

The researchers recruited 10 pet dogs from the local area. Each dog was shown six food items – including treats, cheese, carrots and hot dogs -- and six toys, such as a tennis ball, a squeak toy, a plastic bone or a stuffed animal. Each dog then had a chance to choose their favorite food and favorite toy.

In another set of experiments, the dogs had to work harder and harder for their reward. Most dogs gave up earlier when offered a preferred toy reward than when given they favorite treat.

Other studies have shown that dogs might prefer human attention to food.

“I think the next study should look at all three – attention, food, and toys – and what dogs really like best when training,” Dorey said.

Some dog trainers suggest using toys instead of food in training to avoid excess calories and to make the experience more fun for the dog. If dog owners want to follow this advice, the key is to not have toys competing with food, say the researchers.

“You can definitely train your dog with toys if you start really early,” Dorey said. “This is what’s done with search and rescue dogs, they start really early with toys as a reinforcer.”

The study was led by undergraduate UF students Xenabeth Lazaro and John Winter, who have since graduated. Collaborators from the Florida Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University also contributed. The authors published their findings in the journal Animals.

JOURNAL

Animals

DOI

10.3390/ani13193073

ARTICLE TITLE

Efficacy of Edible and Leisure Reinforcers with Domestic Dogs

ARTICLE TITLE

Studying Health Conditions Associated with Spay/Neuter in Dogs

Baby birds hatch with ability to mimic mom

Wrens call to their chicks in the egg

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

Dr Diane Colombelli-Négrel — IMAGE:
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR LECTURER DR DIANE COLOMBELLI-NÉGREL WITH A MALE SUPERB FAIRYWREN
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CREDIT: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

Singing a gentle lullaby can help put a human baby to sleep but its usefulness in the low grassland swaying nests of Australian songbirds takes maternal ‘singing’ to even greater heights.

Bird ecologists from around the world, including the University of Vienna and Flinders University, have shown an native wren mother's signature call to her eggs helps to give her newborn their distinctive call for food – helping these fairywren species to bond with and prepare their young for the real world.

By calling to them in the egg, the new study due for publication in The American Naturalist (now in pre-print) found the nestlings responding favourably to the mother's 'B element' vocalisation.

The special individual calls by Superb fairywrens (Malarus cyaneus) appear to 'teach' their unborn chicks family’s distinct call type both inside the egg and emerging into the nest, says Flinders and University of Vienna Professor Sonia Kleindorfer, who founded the Flinders University BirdLab 20 years ago.

The study of fairywrens (songbird family Maluridae) was conducted by Flinders University scientists in South Australia at the Cleland Conservation Park study, with help from the Department of Environment and Water.

“In eight species of fairywren and grasswren, females produce a B element to their embryos that is the mother's signature element and unique to each female. This B element is also the nestling begging call produced shortly after hatching,” says Professor Kleindorfer.

“In this study, we show that female songbird mothers produce a vocal signature element to their embryos that is later produced by their nestlings as a begging call.

“Nestlings produce calls with greater vocal copy similarity between their mother's signature call and their begging call when mothers called slowly to the embryo.”

Professor Sonia Kleindorfer and Flinders University’s Dr Diane Colombelli-Négrel say extended studies by the BirdLab research is giving new insights into the extraordinary female vocalisation behaviour of Australian songbirds that has long been overlooked.

"Nestling begging calls resemble maternal vocal signatures when mothers call slowly to embryos," says Dr Colombelli-Négrel.

“In this study, we show maternal behavior that is concordant with pupil-directed vocalization behavior when mothers call to their embryos. Mothers with slow call rate had offspring with enhanced learning (greater vocal copy similarity) of a vocalisation experienced in ovo.”

In each species, other element types in addition to the B element were also produced by mothers calling to their embryos. Our next paper asks: why these other element types as well? (turns out, to reduce the risk of habituation to the B element).

The article - Nestling begging calls resemble maternal vocal signatures when mothers call slowly to embryos (2023) by Sonia Kleindorfer, Lyanne Brouwer, Mark E Hauber, Niki Teunissen, Anne Peters, Marina Louter, Michael S Webster, Andrew C Katsis, Frank J Sulloway, Lauren K Common, Victoria I Austin and Diane Colombelli-Négrelhas been accepted for publication in pre-print by The American Naturalist (University of Chicago Press). DOI: 10.1086/728105

Collaborators on the project are from the ANU, James Cook University, University of Illinois Urbana, Cornell University, Monash University, University of California Berkley and Western Sydney University.

Superb fairywren chicks

A female superb fairywren checks her nest

A superb fairywren nest was used in the scientific study

CREDIT

Flinders University

JOURNAL

The American Naturalist

DOI

10.1086/728105

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Nestling begging calls resemble maternal vocal signatures when mothers call slowly to embryos

A simulation to visualize the evolution of Alpine ice cover over the last 120,000 years

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE

Climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps — VIDEO:
LARGE PARTS OF THE EUROPEAN ALPS WERE COVERED BY ICE DURING THE LAST GLACIATION. WHAT PLACES HAVE BEEN GLACIATED? WHEN AND FOR HOW LONG? THIS 2-MIN-LONG FILM SHOWS THE RESULT OF A RECENT CLIMATE-GLACIER MODELLING OF THE LAST GLACIATION IN THE ALPS STARTING 120'000 YEARS AGO. THIS FILM IS A REWORKING OF A PRIOR VIDEO, FEATURING NEW RESULTS BASED ON CLIMATE MODELLING AND A NEW AI-BASED VISUALIZATION.
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CREDIT: UNIL

The last glacial period began around 115,000 years ago, and was punctuated by cold and warmer cycles, resulting in the advance and retreat of glaciers that shaped the landscape of the European Alps and their surroundings, carving out valleys. A new computer model makes it possible to reconstruct this evolution with unprecedented precision. It provides a direct visualization of the phenomena, making them accessible to a wide audience. The fruit of an extensive collaboration by glaciologists, climatologists and geologists from the universities of Lausanne, Bern and Zürich, the research was published in the Journal of Glaciology.

Climatology and glaciology meet

The new numerical model is unique in that, for the first time, it incorporates complex modelling of past climate, carried out by climatologists at the University of Bern.Glaciologists then used these climatological simulations to inform an ice-flow model, modeling ice accumulation, dynamics and melting, resulting in the most accurate simulation to date. Its unprecedented complexity makes it possible to understand the past distribution of snowfall in Alpine valleys, as well as the evolution of glaciers. "There are geomorphological clues in the field, such as moraines and erratic boulders, which bear witness to the past imprint of glaciers on the lowlands," explained Guillaume Jouvet, a glaciologist at UNIL's Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, and first author of the study. "We used these traces to validate our simulation, and everything matched," he further enthused. "Because of the complexity of the modeling, it took us 6 years to correctly set up our climate and glaciological models, and finally get the right climate and glaciers that match what we observe in reality." The limits of modelingHowever, the traces left in the field, which act as a gauge, do not allow the model to be verified beyond 24,000 years, the period when glaciers were at their maximum."This glacial maximum destroyed all previous evidence. Our model is therefore difficult to verify beyond 24,000 years," explains Guillaume Jouvet.

Putting global warming into perspective

The new simulation will enable us to better understand the past interaction between climate and glacier, and how our landscape was formed. As well as being of scientific interest, it provides a context for global warming. "The image of the different glacial cycles is quite telling", comments Guillaume Jouvet, "24,000 years ago, we can see that cities such as Lausanne were covered by more than one kilometer of ice. It's obvious that past cycles, caused by orbital variations of the Earth, are nothing like what's happening now, where greenhouse gases play an active role in glacier melt". The glaciologist adds: "What is most striking is the speed of current climate change (barely a few decades) compared with the infinitely long time span of the ice ages."

Scientists will be working to further improve the resolution of their model. The current resolution is not sufficiently fine to reproduce the complex topography of high mountains, and this causes a probable overestimation of the ice cover. "We have just started a new project using artificial intelligence, which will be used to speed up our models and reach a necessary resolution of 200m," explains Guillaume Jouvet.

Reference:

G. Jouvet, D. Cohen, E. Russo, J. Buzan , C. C. Raible , W. Haeberli , S. Kamleitner , S. Ivy-Ochs, M. A. Imhof , J. K. Becker , A. Landgraf and U. H. Fischer, Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps, Journal of Glaciology.

JOURNAL

Journal of Glaciology

DOI

10.1017/jog.2023.74

ARTICLE TITLE

Coupled climate-glacier modelling of the last glaciation in the Alps

New study reveals similarities between chimpanzee and human language development

Scientists examining the evolutionary roots of language say they’ve discovered chimp vocal development is not far off from humans

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

A study has provided evidence that young chimpanzees are capable of vocal functional flexibility; a known building block in human language development.

The ability to produce sounds that can fulfil a variety of functions is fundamental to how we learn to speak, but it has long been believed that non-human primates don’t share this skill.

Human babies make noises that have specific purposes. Screams, laughs and cries for instance all have a rigid purpose and clear emotion attached to them. But there are other free speech sounds, like pre-babbling, that are more flexible in their function.

New research has found that infant and juvenile chimps demonstrate a similar vocal flexibility, which implies the foundations for speech are rooted in our primate evolutionary heritage.

Lead author, Dr Derry Taylor, from the University of Portsmouth’s Department of Psychology, said: “All living things communicate, but only humans communicate using language. How this came to be is an unsolved mystery within science.

“Until now we didn’t have evidence of vocal functional flexibility in non-human primates early on. This discovery holds profound implications for our understanding of the origins of human language.”

The paper, published in iScience, is one of the first systematic studies of early chimp vocal production and function.

A team from the University of Portsmouth in England, the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, and Université Clermont Auvergne in France, filmed 768 vocalisations in 28 young chimpanzees at a sanctuary in Zambia. These included grunts, whimpers, laughter, screams, hoos, barks, squeaks, and pant hoots.

When reviewing and classifying the sounds, they discovered that similar to human infants, the chimps produced calls with different affective states - positive, neutral, or negative – alongside a variety of facial expressions and movements.

These flexibly expressed call types, particularly grunts, also prompted distinct responses from social partners based on how they were expressed with certain behaviours. The findings demonstrated a clear parallel with existing human infant research.

Co-author Marina Davila-Ross, Associate Professor in Comparative Psychology at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Many studies comparing apes with human children have tested them at different ages in order to discuss differences in language development between both species.

“We mirrored another piece of research carried out in America, which looked at vocal functional flexibility in human infants, to ensure that our research followed a similar methodology and the results could easily be compared.

“These findings contribute to a growing body of literature challenging conventional beliefs about primate vocal production and emphasises the need for further comparative developmental studies to enhance our understanding of the evolutionary origins of language.”

JOURNAL

iScience

DOI

10.1016/j.isci.2023.107791

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Vocal functional flexibility in the grunts of young chimpanzees

Unlocking nature's silent conversations: Real-time visualization of plant-plant communications through airborne volatiles

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SAITAMA UNIVERSITY

Figure 1: Plant-plant communication between damaged plants and intact neighboring plants — IMAGE:
PLANTS RELEASE VOCS INTO THE ATMOSPHERE WHEN DAMAGED BY INSECTS. INTACT NEIGHBORING PLANTS SENSE VOCS AND ACTIVATE PRE-EMPTIVE DEFENSE RESPONSES AGAINST THE INSECTS.
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CREDIT: MASATSUGU TOYOTA/SAITAMA UNIVERSITY

Saitama, Japan: Plants emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere upon mechanical damages or insect attacks. Undamaged neighboring plants sense the released VOCs as danger cues to activate defense responses against upcoming threats (Figure 1). This phenomenon of airborne communication among plants through VOCs was first documented in 1983 and has since been observed in more than 30 different plant species. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying VOC perception to defense induction remain unclear.

Unveiling the Invisible Conversation

The team, led by Professor Masatsugu Toyota (Saitama University, Japan), visualized plant-plant communications via VOCs in real time and revealed how VOCs are taken up by plants, initiating Ca2+-dependent defense responses against future threats.

This groundbreaking research will be published in Nature Communications on October 17, 2023. Yuri Aratani and Takuya Uemura led the work as a Ph.D. student and a postdoctoral researcher, respectively, in Toyota’s lab and collaborated with Professor Kenji Matsui at Yamaguchi University, Japan.

“We constructed equipment to pump VOCs emitted from plants fed by caterpillars onto undamaged neighboring plants and combined it with a wild-field, real-time fluorescent imaging system,” says Toyota. This innovative setup visualized bursts of fluorescence spreading in a mustard plant Arabidopsis thaliana after exposure to VOCs emitted from the insect-damaged plants (Figure 2; Video 1). The plants create fluorescent protein sensors for intracellular Ca2+ and therefore, changes in intracellular Ca2+ concentration can be monitored by observing changes in fluorescence.

“In addition to insect attacks, VOCs released from manually smashed leaves induced Ca2+ signals in undamaged neighboring plants,” says Toyota (Video 2).

To identify what type of VOCs induced Ca2+ signals in plants, Toyota’s team of scientists investigated various VOCs known to induce defense responses in plants. They found that two VOCs, (Z)-3-hexenal (Z-3-HAL) and (E)-2-hexenal (E-2-HAL), both six-carbon aldehydes, induce Ca2+ signals in Arabidopsis (Figure 3; Video 3). Z-3-HAL and E-2-HAL are airborne chemicals with grassy smells and are known as green leaf volatiles (GLVs) emitted from mechanically- and herbivore-damaged plants.

Exposing Arabidopsis to Z-3-HAL and E-2-HAL resulted in the upregulation of defense-related genes. To understand the relationship between the Ca2+ signals and the defense responses, they treated Arabidopsis with the Ca2+ channel inhibitor, LaCl3 and the Ca2+ chelating agent, EGTA. These chemicals suppressed both the Ca2+ signals and the induction of defense-related genes, providing evidence that Arabidopsis perceives GLVs and activates defense responses in a Ca2+-dependent manner.

Guard Cells: The Gateway to Awareness

They also identified which specific cells exhibited the Ca2+ signals in response to GLVs by engineering transgenic plants expressing the fluorescent protein sensors exclusively in guard, mesophyll, or epidermal cells. Upon Z-3-HAL exposure, Ca2+ signals were generated in guard cells within approximately 1 minute and then in mesophyll cells, whereas epidermal cells generated Ca2+ signals more slowly (Video 4). Guard cells are bean-shaped cells on plant surfaces and form stomata, small pores that connect inner tissues and the atmosphere.

“Plants do not possess a “nose”, but stomata serve as a plant gateway mediating rapid GLV entry into interspaces in leaf tissues,” says Toyota. In fact, they found that pretreating with abscisic acid (ABA), one of the phytohormones known for its ability to close stomata, reduced Ca2+ responses in wild-type leaves. On the other hand, mutants with impaired ABA-induced stomatal closures maintained normal Ca2+ signals in leaves even when treated with ABA.

“We have finally unveiled the intricate story of when, where, and how plants respond to airborne 'warning messages' from their threatened neighbors,” he says. “This ethereal communication network, hidden from our view, plays a pivotal role in safeguarding neighboring plants from imminent threats in a timely manner,” he adds.

This pioneering research not only deepens our appreciation for the astonishing world of plants but also underscores the remarkable ways in which nature has equipped them to thrive and adapt in the face of adversity. The profound implications of these findings resonate far beyond the boundaries of plant science, offering a glimpse into the intricate tapestry of life on Earth.

Left panel: Equipment for exposing intact Arabidopsis to VOCs emitted by insect-damaged plants (dashed arrow). Right panel: Ca2+ signals (yellow arrowheads, 600 and 1200 s) were induced by VOCs released from insect-damaged plants (dashed arrow).