Plants
- Climate
Rising CO2 levels might not be as good for plants as we thought
A 20-year experiment spots a reversal in the way two kinds of plants take up extra carbon from the atmosphere.
- Science & Society
Why it’s great to have a geologist in the house
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute enthuses about learning how ancient plans may have helped make Earth muddy.
- Plants
Liverwort reproductive organ inspires pipette design
A new pipette is inspired by a plant’s female reproductive structure.
- Plants
These petunias launch seeds that spin 1,660 times a second
One species of petunia spreads its seeds explosively, giving them a rotation of 1,660 times per second.
- Ecosystems
Pollution regulations help Chesapeake Bay seagrass rebound
Regulations that have reduced nitrogen runoff into the Chesapeake Bay are driving the recovery of underwater vegetation.
- Earth
Early land plants led to the rise of mud
New research suggests early land plants called bryophytes, which include modern mosses, helped shape Earth’s surface by creating clay-rich river deposits.
- Plants
The flowers that give us chocolate are ridiculously hard to pollinate
Cacao trees are really fussy about pollination.
- Plants
Ancient ozone holes may have sterilized forests 252 million years ago
Swaths of barren forest may have led to Earth’s greatest mass extinction.
- Plants
Pollinators are usually safe from a Venus flytrap
A first-ever look at what pollinates the carnivorous Venus flytrap finds little overlap between pollinators and prey.
- Animals
2017 delivered amazing biology finds from organisms large and small
From giant African elephants to tiny tardigrades, scientists discovered some surprising biology this year.
- Plants
The dietary habits of the emerald ash borer beetle are complicated
Tests answer some questions about the emerald ash borer’s hidden taste for olive and fringe trees.
- Animals
Honeybees fumble their way to blueberry pollination
Blueberry flowers drive honeybees to grappling, even stomping a leg or two down a bloom throat, to reach pollen.
