The science inside every seed, explained.
New seed-science research, translated into plain language — for scientists, practitioners, and anyone curious how a seed decides when to wake up.
SEED ECOLOGY & RESTORATION
Putting seeds back to work
Dormancy-breaking, native species selection, and direct-seeding strategies for land managers and restoration ecologists.
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SEED TECHNOLOGY
Priming, coating & new methods
Applied seed treatments — what improves germination speed and uniformity, and what’s genuinely new versus relabelled.
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SEED BIOLOGY & DORMANCY
How a seed decides to wait
The physiology and mechanisms behind dormancy and germination — foundational science, explained from first principles.
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Why this exists
Seed science sits behind some of the most consequential work in food security, climate-resilient agriculture, and ecological restoration — yet most new findings stay locked inside journals few people outside the field ever read.
The Seed Files reads the new literature so you don’t have to wade through it cold: each entry pairs a plain-language summary with an original illustration of the paper’s core finding, plus the technical detail and citation researchers need underneath.
Latest papers
SEED ECOLOGY & RESTORATION
Why some mangrove seeds refuse to sprout — until you crack their coat
A dormancy profile across Sri Lankan mangrove species shows that restoration success depends on matching the right pre-treatment to each species, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
Wijayasinghe et al. (2023), Seed Science Research
SEED TECHNOLOGY
Seed priming, twenty years on: what’s actually new
A field-wide look at priming research separates genuine mechanistic advances from re-branded existing methods — and where the technique still falls short.
Paparella et al. (2019), Plant Cell Reports
SEED BIOLOGY & DORMANCY
Predicting how long a wild seed will survive in storage
A new model uses radicle emergence timing to estimate seed longevity — a faster, less destructive way to assess genetic material destined for long-term conservation.
Wijayasinghe & Hay, 2024
About the author
I’m Dr. Malaka Wijayasinghe, a seed biologist working across seed dormancy, seed longevity, and seed technology, with research training that has included a Marie Curie fellowship at the University of Pavia, Italy, and five years as a Senior Lecturer in Sri Lanka.
I write The Seed Files to stay closely engaged with current literature while I look for my next role in UK seed science — across academia, industry, and conservation.