Plants
- Plants
How Romanesco cauliflower forms its spiraling fractals
By tweaking just three genes in a common lab plant, scientists have discovered the mechanism responsible for one of nature’s most impressive fractals.
- Plants
A widely studied lab plant has revealed a previously unknown organ
A cantilever-like plant part long evaded researchers’ notice in widely studied Arabidopsis thaliana, grown in hundreds of labs worldwide.
- Plants
These ferns may be the first plants known to share work like ants
Staghorn ferns grow in massive colonies where individual plants contribute different jobs. This may make them “eusocial,” like ants or termites.
- Climate
‘Tree farts’ contribute about a fifth of greenhouse gases from ghost forests
Greenhouse gases from dead trees play an important role in the overall environmental impact of ghost forests, a new study suggests.
- Ecosystems
Simple hand-built structures can help streams survive wildfires and drought
Building simple structures with sticks and stones — and inviting in dam-building beavers — can keep water where it’s needed to fight drought and wildfires.
- Neuroscience
Catnip repels insects. Scientists may have finally found out how
The plant deters mosquitoes and fruit flies by triggering a chemical receptor that, in other animals, senses pain and itch.
- Plants
Modified genes can distort wild cotton’s interactions with insects
In a Yucatan nature park, engineered genes influence nectar production, affecting ants’ and maybe pollinators’ attraction to the wild cotton plants.
- Life
A reeking, parasitic plant lost its body and much of its genetic blueprint
The Sapria himalayana flower's extreme parasitic lifestyle inside the body of its host has left a bizarre imprint on its genome.
- Tech
A robot arm toting a Venus flytrap can grab delicate objects
By attaching electrodes to the plant’s leaves, researchers found a way to snap its traps shut on command.
- Plants
Rats with poisonous hairdos live surprisingly sociable private lives
Deadly, swaggering rodents purr and snuggle when they’re with mates and young.
- Plants
These plants seem like they’re trying to hide from people
A plant used in traditional Chinese medicine has evolved remarkable camouflage in areas with intense harvesting pressure, a study suggests.
- Planetary Science
Farming on Mars will be a lot harder than ‘The Martian’ made it seem
Lab experiments developing and testing fake Martian dirt are proving just how difficult it would be to farm on the Red Planet.
