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In this episode, Liz and Ivan talk with Professor Simon Gilroy to bust the myth that plant scientists are only motivated to feed the world. So, let\u2019s get back to the basics!\n\nSimon has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 2007. He completed his Ph.D. at Edinburgh in 1984 in Plant Biochemistry followed by postdoc positions at the University of California, Berkeley and University of Edinburgh. He was an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University before joining Wisconsin-Madison. He also served on the Steering Committee and the Plant Biology Subcommittee of the 2011 NASA Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space from the National Academies.\n\nWe talk about his recent publication with Toyota et al. in the journal Science, "Glutamate triggers long-distance, calcium-based plant defense signaling" and how the videos of calcium spikes in plant leaves after damage caught the public\u2019s imagination and led to his science celebrity status. The research was featured in National Geographic, Science Friday and the New York Times!\n\nArabidopsis plants expressing a GFP-linked calcium sensor revealed rapid, glutamate-mediated long-distance signaling. Plants may have no nerves nor brains (\u201cthe big spongy thing on top of our heads\u201d, as Simon would say) but they have a speedy signalling system!\n\nSimon shares his curiosity of how the world works, his enthusiasm for fundamental research and asking simple questions. We ask if it is okay to do basic research on taxpayer money and how the accumulation of \u2018how this stuff works\u2019 knowledge leads to the next breakthrough in applied science.\n\nWe discuss how to write broader impact statements for NSF grant proposals for basic research. As we release this episode, Simon is at the Kennedy Space Center on sabbatical, conducting very basic science on Arabidopsis circadian rhythms and oxygen sensing, using space flights as a weird lab environment. According to Simon,, \u201cif astronauts were to develop a taste for Arabidopsis, then all problems with growing food in space would be solved!\u201d\n\nWe chat about how early career scientists could evaluate if basic or applied science is the next step for them. Simon suggests going for \u2018whatever floats your boat\u2019 (e.g. broadly: like cloning genes or going around rainforests in Wellington boots). The basic questions come naturally to him; hence his career path.\n\nA transcript for this episode was generously provided by Joe Stormer https://bit.ly/3dsbKZB \n\nSHOW NOTES:\n@ehaswell\n@baxtertwi\n@taprootpodcast\n#TaprootTuesday\nFacebook page: https://www.facebook.com/gilroylab/\n\nArticles:Toyota, M., Spencer, D., Sawai-Toyota, S., Jiaqi, W., Zhang, T., Koo, A.J., Howe, G.A. and Gilroy, S., 2018. Glutamate triggers long-distance, calcium-based plant defense signaling. Science, 361(6407), pp.1112-1115: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6407/1112\n\nNew York Times: Watch Plants Light Up When They Get Attacked https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/science/plant-defenses.html\n\nScience Friday: When Plants Sense Danger, They Cry Out With Calcium https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/when-plants-sense-danger-they-cry-out-with-calcium/\n\nNational Geographic: Watch a Mutant Plant Burst Into Action When Attackedhttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/09/news-plants-communicate-caterpillar-attack-calcium-video/\n\nVideos:\nProf Simon Gilroy checks the reality of the \u2018Martian\u2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3DFRm0K2R4\n\nFlashes of light show how plants signal distress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txTKICNvpfU\n\nUpcoming Plant Cell Meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQZXmFbfNjI\n\nScience Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeLSyU_iI9o\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-3yFcZSyvo\n\nA transcript of this episode, generously provided by Joe Stormer, can be found here: https://community.plantae.org/document/5207577010813011648/transcript-taproot-s3e5-simon-gilroy