Plants

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. Plants

    Gold can grow on trees

    Australian researchers found leafy nano-evidence pointing to rich deposits of the precious metal deep below ground.

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  4. 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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  5. Chemistry

    A plant enemy’s enemy

    Plants use chemicals to recruit help in fighting off pests.

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  6. Agriculture

    Cool Jobs: Green Science

    In parts of the Arctic, entire forests are creeping northward. Luckily, ecologist Serge Payette is hot on their trail.

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  7. Animals

    Flower power

    Electric field around flowers may help bees find nutritious blooms.

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  8. Climate

    Iron versus climate change

    Metal deposits can promote the growth of ocean algae that gobble greenhouse gas.

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  9. Plants

    Whale-free perfume

    Tree gene trick is good news for people who like perfume made without sperm whale waste.

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  10. Earth

    The oldest place on Earth

    Antarctica may seem like the dead continent, but it once bustled with life — a little of which still survives.

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  11. Plants

    Ancient flower blooms again

    Scientists have found the fruit of an ancient plant that had been frozen underground in Siberia — a region covering central and eastern Russia — for about 31,800 years. Using pieces of the fruit, the scientists grew plants in a lab. The new blooms have delicate white petals. They are also the oldest flowering plants that researchers have ever revived from a deep freeze.

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  12. Plants

    Carnivorous plants say ‘cheese’

    It took high-speed cameras to reveal how the bladderwort gets lunch.

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