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Knowledge about plant nutrition and photosynthesis is key to the scientific literacy of citizens. However, numerous studies have shown the existence of about 50 alternative ideas related to this content. In this work, carried out based on a reflection-action process, two studies based on the ideas of our 12–18 year old students are presented, as well as those of the Teacher Training Master of the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain); we propose a new approach to teach these topics and others related. In addition, the most interesting ideas from an analysis on some of the main university manuals of Plant Physiology on the subject of photosynthesis are shown to finally propose a teaching model of this content that has been applied and evaluated in two Educational Centres of the Community of Madrid, getting good results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish or Spanish-speaking scientists represent a remarkably populated group within the scientific community studying pore-forming proteins. Some of these scientists, ourselves included, focus on the study of actinoporins, a fascinating group of metamorphic pore-forming proteins produced within the venom of several sea anemones. These toxic proteins can spontaneously transit from a water-soluble fold to an integral membrane ensemble because they specifically recognize sphingomyelin in the membrane. Once they bind to the bilayer, they subsequently oligomerize into a pore that triggers cell-death by osmotic shock. In addition to sphingomyelin, some actinoporins are especially sensible to some other membrane components such as cholesterol. Our group from Universidad Complutense of Madrid has focused greatly on the role played by sterols in this water–membrane transition, a question which still remains only partially solved and constitutes the main core of the article below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]