Plants
- Environment
Cleaning with greens
Cleaning up toxic waste is a big and expensive problem. Scientists have tinkered with the genes in some plants. Now those greens can take on this dirty work. Still, they're not quite ready for prime time.
- Animals
Rare as a rhino
Most species are rare. Some have always been rare. A problem develops when people are responsible for accelerating a species’ rarity to the point that extinction threatens.
- Microbes
Recycling the dead
When things die, nature breaks them down through a process we know as rot. Without it, none of us would be here. Now, scientists are trying to better understand it so that they can use rot — preserving its role in feeding all living things.
- Tech
Plants ‘listen’ for danger
Scientists used lasers to show that plants can “hear” insect pests. Those leafy plants then mount a chemical attack in response to the bug’s chewing sounds — but not toward harmless noises such as a gentle breeze or a bug’s mating call.
- Plants
Saving the banana
A number of diseases threaten the world’s most popular fruit. Scientists are working to fight these blights. But if they don’t succeed, the sweet banana that’s a breakfast staple could disappear.
- Plants
Taking a long look at lichen
Lichens may not look like much, but they play a vital role in our ecosystems. ISEF finalist Madeline Handley decided learn more about the lichens in her native Alaska.
- Animals
Mosquitoes, be gone!
An extract of local seeds in Puerto Rico may be the key to keeping mosquitoes away. It kills the larval insects and repels the biting adults.
- Plants
Wily bacteria create ‘zombie’ plants
Scientists have discovered how some plant pathogens ensure their own survival by transforming flowering plants into strictly leaf-producing ones. These green ‘zombies’ attract insects that the parasites need to help them spread to other plants.
- Life
Caught in the act
Scientists observe some evolutionary speed demons as they adapt over the course of just a few years to new environmental conditions.
- Plants
Gold can grow on trees
Australian researchers found leafy nano-evidence pointing to rich deposits of the precious metal deep below ground.
- Plants
Old, cold moss grows again
Mosses are mini but mighty: Even after centuries buried beneath a glacier, some of these small, flowerless plants can regrow.
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