We live close to some outstanding research facilities. NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View had a role in the development of the Webb telescope that launched earlier this year. Stanford University is on the cutting edge of many medical advancements. Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories are front and center of many studies that affect our daily lives.

When I was a kid my father used to work at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab. As a welder during the 1950’s I remember him telling me about working on the Bevatron which was the state of the art particle accelerator being built there. The goal of Berkeley Lab has always been to bring science solutions to the world.

Their newsletter, now published online, reported the results several years ago of a study about the increased rate that the earth’s vegetation is absorbing human-induced CO2. Never underestimate the power of nature – especially that of plants.

A new study published in this month’s Berkeley Lab newsletter, has found that plants, especially sea grasses, mangroves and salt marshes, are grabbing more carbon from the air than in previous decades. The study is based on extensive ground and atmospheric observations, satellite measurements of vegetation and computer modeling. They are even better than forests and can continue to do so for millions of years. The carbon found in coastal soil is often thousands of years old.

“To be clear, human activity continues to emit increasing amounts of carbon”, the study explains but plants have slowed the rate of increase in the atmosphere by absorbing more. “It’s a kind of snowball effect: as the carbon levels rise in the atmosphere, photosynthesis activity flourishes and plant take in more carbon, sparking more plant growth, more photosynthesis and more carbon uptake.”

Another player was identified in the study. Plant respiration, a process in which plants use oxygen and produce CO2, did not increase as quickly as photosynthesis in recent years. This is because plant respiration is sensitive to temperature. The study showed that between 2002 and 2014, plants took in more CO2 through photosynthesis but did not “exhale’ more CO2 into the atmosphere through respiration.

What does this all mean? “This highlights the need to identify and protect ecosystems where the carbon sink is growing rapidly,” says Trevor Keenan, a research scientist and author of the paper. “Unfortunately, this increase in the carbon sink is nowhere near enough to stop climate change. We don’t know where the carbon sink is increasing the most, how long this increase will last, or what it means for the future of Earth’s climate.”

Still I’m hopeful that the earth will heal itself if given the chance and we can thank plants including the humble houseplant for helping offset increasing levels of CO2 from fossil fuel emissions.

Berkeley Lab is at the forefront of research in the world of science. They continue to share information about how plants transport water from their roots up through the stem and how they respond to stress such as drought. The new data will provide insight about how to better tend crops and other plants under stress and to improved understanding and forecasting for drought-related die-offs of trees and other plant species.

Several years ago during the Ebola outbreak, Berkeley Lab was one of the research facilities searching for a cure. Rather than using human or lab animals, a crystal isolated from the cells of a broccoli related plant called mouse-ear cress, provided the target related protein. Researchers have used this plant as a model species for studying cell activities and genetics since the mid-1940’s and in 2000 this plant’s genome was the very first plant genome to be sequenced. Quite an honor for another humble plant.

The current Department of Energy Lawrence Berkeley Lab newsletter reported that the site of the former Bevatron, that operated from 1954 to 1993, has been designated a historic site by the American Physical Society for its exemplary contributions to physics. Dad would be proud to have been a part at its inception.

The current issue of the newsletter features a study conducted along with Michigan State University and the University of Southern Bohemia (yes, that’s a real place) about microbial photosynthesis. According to the article this info could help researchers remediate harmful algal blooms and develop artificial photosynthesis systems for renewable energy among other awesome applications. Check out the Berkeley lab newsletter online if you’re into browsing the internet like me. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/