Plants

Plants

Scientists may have finally found how catnip repels insects

The plant deters mosquitoes and fruit flies by triggering a chemical receptor that, in some animals, senses pain and itch.

Plants

Urban gardens create a buffet for bees

City gardens provide a huge amount of nectar and pollen for pollinators, making them an essential conservation tool.

Animals

Scientists Say: Organelle

An organelle is a part of a cell with a particular function. Like organs. But for cells.

Agriculture

Dew collector brings water to thirsty plants

This invention grabs water from the air at night. All it needs is the sun’s warmth the next day to release that moisture to growing plants.

Plants

How to grow your own science experiment

Does fertilizer help plants grow better? You might expect it to, but how can you know? This experiment will help you test it yourself.

Plants

Please do not touch the Australian stinging tree

Stinging-tree leaves look soft and inviting, but one touch delivers agony. Structurally, the plant's painful chemical looks a lot like spider venom.

Plants

Explainer: How photosynthesis works

Plants can take in light, water and carbon dioxide, and send out sugar and oxygen. Here’s how it works.

Plants

Here’s how giant pumpkins get so big

Cinderella took a ride in a pumpkin coach. Though real pumpkins do get big enough, here’s why their ride would be uncomfortable at best.

Plants

The faster trees grow, the younger they die

As climate change spurs forest tree growth, it also shortens trees’ lives. That results in a quicker release of climate-warming carbon back into the atmosphere.

Plants

‘Vampire’ parasite challenges the definition of a plant

Langsdorffia are stripped down to their essentials. Lacking green leaves for photosynthesis, they steal energy and nutrients from other plants.

Agriculture

Scientists Say: Carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are molecules with carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Animals break down these chemicals in food to get energy.

Earth

On an Alaskan glacier, little green moss balls roll in herds

Oval balls of moss, nicknamed ‘glacier mice,’ roll across some glaciers. A new study explores the mysteries behind their herd-like motion.