Around 20% of the world’s irrigated land is considered to contain elevated concentrations of salt, and the soil continues to get saltier as the climate warms. Agricultural production is hard hit by soil salinity; salt stress reduces the growth and yield of most plants, resulting in billions of dollars in crop yield losses annually. Rice–the…

Plant scientists have a new tool in their toolkit. The automated confocal micro-extensometer (ACME)–developed by a team of researchers in Europe and the US–allows scientists to measure spatial variation in the mechanical properties of plant cells with unprecedented accuracy. Plant cell growth is limited by the mechanical properties of the surrounding cell wall. Cell walls…