Search Results for: Trees

Life

Chemical signals from fungi tell bark beetles which trees to infest

As fungi break down defensive chemicals in trees, some byproducts act as signals to bark beetle pests, telling them which trees are most vulnerable.

Anthropology

Carvings on Australia’s boab trees reveal a generation’s lost history

Archaeologists and an Aboriginal family are working together to rediscover a First Nations group’s lost connections to the land.

Earth

Catastrophic solar storms may not explain shadows of radiation in trees

Tree rings record six known Miyake events — spikes in global radiation levels in the past. The sun, as long presumed, might not be the sole culprit.

Climate

How Kenyans help themselves and the planet by saving mangrove trees

Communities in Kenya took action to restore their coastal mangrove forests, reaping economic and environmental benefits. Others are following suit.

Animals

Tree-climbing carnivores called fishers are back in Washington’s forests

Thanks to a 14-year reintroduction effort, fishers, or “tree wolverines,” are once again climbing and hunting in Washington’s forests after fur trapping and habitat loss wiped them out.

Paleontology

The oldest known pollen-carrying insects lived about 280 million years ago

Pollen stuck to fossils of earwig-like Tillyardembia pushes back the earliest record of potential insect pollinators by about 120 million years.

Physics

Tiny bubbles that make icicles hazy are filled with water, not air

Like tree rings, layers of itty-bitty water pockets also preserve a record of an icicle’s growth.

Archaeology

Chemical residue reveals ancient Egyptians’ mummy-making mixtures

Chemical clues in embalming vessels reveal previously unknown ingredients used to prepare bodies for mummification and their far-flung origins.

Life

Long genital spines on male wasps can save their lives

A male wasp’s genital spines can save his life in an encounter with a scary tree frog, a new study shows.

Life

Fossils suggest early primates lived in a once-swampy Arctic

Teeth and jawbones found on Ellesmere Island, Canada, suggest that two early primate species migrated there 52 million years ago.

Environment

Mangrove forests expand and contract with a lunar cycle

The carbon-sequestering trees grow in a roughly 18-year cycle according to tides influenced by the moon’s orbit, a study in Australia finds.

Anthropology

Two scientists’ trek showed how people of Chaco Canyon may have hauled logs

By carrying a log with the aid of head straps called tumplines, the duo demoed how people may have hauled timbers to Chaco about 1,000 years ago.