Plants talk. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in bad ways; and when a kernel of corn sends a chemical signal to a seemingly harmless mold spore to begin producing the world’s most potent natural toxin – and the corn is then ingested – that conversation can turn deadly.

Marion Brodhagen, Western Washington University assistant professor of Biology, has received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research ways to interrupt this “chemical conversation” between the fungus and food source before it can get started.