Plants
- Environment
Fungi help rescue crops being harmed by microplastics
Microplastics in the soil hinder plant growth. But two finalists at Regeneron ISEF found that fungi and farm waste can reduce the harm.
- Environment
Making yards more diverse can reap big environmental benefits
Replacing grass with native plants uses less water and fewer chemicals while providing additional benefits to people and wildlife.
- Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Food web
All the species in an ecosystem and the feeding relationships between them get summed up with this handy picture.
- Plants
Analyze This: Plants sound off when they’re in trouble
When dry or cut, tomato and tobacco plants make sounds too high for humans to hear. Such sounds could provide a way to snoop on crops.
- Plants
Mimosa plant ‘muscles’ fold tickled leaves fast
A mimosa plant uses special cells to close leaflets when bumped and then reopen them — again and again.
- Archaeology
Carvings on Australia’s boab trees reveal a people’s lost history
Archaeologists and an Aboriginal family are working together to find and document a First Nations group’s lost ties to the land.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Rubisco
Rubisco is a key protein in the process of photosynthesis, which feeds plants — and, in turn, us.
- Chemistry
Explainer: All about carbon dioxide
Animals and other life on Earth exhale carbon dioxide, which plants use for photosynthesis. But too much of this gas can perturb Earth’s climate.
- Plants
Why dandelions are so good at widely spreading their seeds
Individual seeds on a dandelion release most easily in response to winds from a specific direction. As the wind shifts, this scatters the seeds widely.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Fruit
Some foods usually called vegetables — such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers — are actually fruits.
- Animals
Several mammals use a South American tree as their pharmacy
Researchers in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest stumbled onto something very strange. They watched as animals “doctored” themselves with products from a tree.
- Plants
No sun? No prob! A new process might soon grow plants in the dark
Teamwork makes green-work! Collaborating scientists came up with an electrifying farming trick that could make sunlight optional.
