Nature has published a ground-breaking paper by the Pei Lab on how plants perceive salt in the August 13 issue, “Plant cell-surface GIPC sphingolipids sense salt to trigger Ca2+ influx.”  A News and Views article highlights the importance of this research: Excess salinity affects about 7% of all land, and 30% of irrigated crops.  First author Zhonghao Jiang and the Pei team have demonstrated the mechanism whereby a plant recognizes and adapts to increased environmental sodium chloride.  This knowledge should provide the basis for more applied research on growing salt-tolerant plants.  Congratulations to Zhen-Ming, Zhonghao and the entire Pei Lab!