To avoid exposure to the harsh Mediterranean summer conditions, some seeds delay germination until after the hot and dry days. Using the plant model Aethionema arabicum, Zsuzsanna Mérai in the group of Liam Dolan at the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) has for the first time described a light-induced mechanism that establishes secondary seed dormancy in summer. The findings were published in Current Biology.