Richard Smith

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5,639 reputation
2050
bio website phyta.org
location Cambridge, UK
age 27
visits member for 1 year, 3 months
seen 18 hours ago
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PhD student in Plant Sciences at Cambridge working on dissecting the molecular basis of C4 photosynthesis. Formerly plant biologist, data analyst, bioinformatician and programmer at the Millennium Seed Bank.

My expertise is in plant biology, especially:

  • Seed biology, dormancy and germination
  • C4 photosynthesis and carbon fixation/concentrating mechanisms in general
  • Environmental plant physiology
  • Molecular biology of plant organogenesis, i.e. organ patterning, auxin, shoot and root branching

I write software in Objective-C and Python, and I have some experience with JS and data vis libraries like the beautiful D3.js, and with R.

If you tag a question with plant-physiology or botany, it will get my attention.


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Feb
2
 revised How long will a vegetable live for after being harvested?
more information
Feb
2
 answered How long will a vegetable live for after being harvested?
Feb
2
 answered Is it the case that all changes in phenotype during life are not inheritable?
Feb
2
 comment What is the largest perennial herbaceous plant?
It's not a misunderstanding or confusion - all bamboos are grasses. Grasses are defined as the graminoids, which includes Poaceae (the true grasses, including bamboo), plus the Cyperaceae (sedges) and Juncaceae (rushes). So it is perfectly accurate to call a bamboo forest a forest of tall grass.
Feb
1
 comment How Do Galls Form?
You're right Amy, sorry! Answer updated with some grovelling.
Feb
1
 revised How Do Galls Form?
removed factual error
Feb
1
 awarded  Organizer
Feb
1
 revised How will rising carbon dioxide levels in the troposphere affect photosynthetic producers?
Added tag: plant-physiology
Feb
1
 comment How will rising carbon dioxide levels in the troposphere affect photosynthetic producers?
@Poshpaws Good question. It's quite a fundamental one, and important, so it deserves to be posted as a separate question - I'll ask and answer it and post the link back here.
Feb
1
 suggested suggested edit on How will rising carbon dioxide levels in the troposphere affect photosynthetic producers?
Feb
1
 comment Abiogenesis: Beyond the research journals as a lead in to discussions on evolution
+1 - great reference list.
Feb
1
 comment Good source that explains the evolution of single-celled organisms “from scratch”
+1 - Hazen's course is an excellent introduction.
Feb
1
 revised In C. elegans, why does knock-down of cco-1 in some tissues increase lifespan, and knock-down of cco-1 in other tissues decrease lifespan?
Just corrected some spelling and grammar to make the question easier to read.
Feb
1
 suggested suggested edit on In C. elegans, why does knock-down of cco-1 in some tissues increase lifespan, and knock-down of cco-1 in other tissues decrease lifespan?
Feb
1
 awarded  Revival
Feb
1
 comment Does an annealing temp higher than primer's Tm contribute to primer dimer?
"biology is not an exact science" made me chuckle - just don't tell the chemists and physicists or they'll never let us live it down!
Feb
1
 awarded  Analytical
Feb
1
 revised Can siRNA induce DNA methylation in mammalian cells?
deleted 121 characters in body
Feb
1
 answered Can siRNA induce DNA methylation in mammalian cells?
Jan
31
 awarded  Supporter
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