Corn really likes its space–so much so that it has a unique way of letting its fellow crops know if the field is getting too crowded. A team at China’s Zhejiang University recently studied crowded corn crop conditions to see how close quarters influences outside threats, including ravenous insects and microbial diseases. Once it sensed the leafy walls closing in on it, a maize plant would release a volatile gas called linalool. Credit: Science“Above a threshold concentration, linalool triggers a chemical response in the root of maize plants (Zea mays). The team noted that high-density corn fields boosted their chemical defenses against their caterpillar foes after only three days.