Plants are subject to it too.
They're out in the open in all weathers, they have to soldier on in saline or polluted soil, pests and pathogenic agents are out to get them. To arm plants against the adversities of everyday life, nature has equipped their smallest unit, the cell, with molecular anti-stress programs. Some of these molecules operate like a revolving door, elegantly ejecting harmful substances from the cell. In the Editorial, vice-rector Prof. Dr. Heinz Horner enumerates the regulations elaborated by the University of Heidelberg to militate against scientific malpractice. This does not however lessen the importance of squaring up to the subject.