Plants
- Animals
Spiders eat insects — and sometimes veggies
Plant-eating spiders have been found on every continent except Antarctica, a new study notes.
- Animals
Less brilliant flowers still keep bees coming back
Bumblebees prefer petals that aren’t overly shimmery. This suggests plants are attuned to what insects see.
- Chemistry
Explainer: Some supplements may not have what it takes
Dietary supplements made from plants may not contain all of the chemicals that usually make a particular plant healthy for humans.
- Plants
Before eating, Venus flytraps must ‘count’
Researchers find that Venus flytraps respond to the number of times insects touch their sensory hairs. This tells them when it’s time to turn on digestion.
- Agriculture
Banana threat: Attack of the clones
Researchers find that disease-causing fungi — all clones of one another — will continue to infect banana plants unless new steps are taken to stop their spread.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Xylem
How do trees ferry water from the soil to branches hundreds of feet in the air? This week’s word is the answer.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Urushiol
Poison ivy looks harmless, but its oil, urushiol, is not. This is the plant’s oil that leaves an itchy rash or blisters on your skin.
- Agriculture
Plant ‘vampires’ lay in wait
A new study shows how some parasitic plants evolved the ability to sense a potential host — and then send out root-like structures to feed on them.
- Chemistry
Bacteria become source of ‘greener’ blue jeans
Manufacturing indigo to dye blue jeans now relies on harmful chemicals. But researchers have found a less polluting way to produce the blue tint: bacteria.
- Chemistry
Secret to rose scent surprises scientists
Scientists discovered the molecular tool that roses use to make fragrance. And it wasn’t what they expected.
- Plants
Using plants to solve environmental problems
Problems in their communities suggested good research projects to three teens. Each wanted to tackle a different issue, from pollution to world hunger. To learn more about these issues, they turned to their local ponds, wetlands and gardens.
- Plants
Picture This: The world’s biggest seed
This monster seed develops on a super-slow-growing island palm. Key to that palm’s survival are leaves that funnel fertilized water to nutrient-starved roots.
