Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Diatoms are tiny unicellular plants—no bigger than half a millimeter—which inhabit the surface water of the world’s oceans where sunlight penetration is plenty. Despite their modest size, they are one of the world’s most powerful resources for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. They currently […]
Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02) photographed on November 11, 2020, by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins aboard the ISS. Credit: NASA/Kate Rubins Earlier this month, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins photographs the first major milestone of the Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02) experiment aboard the International Space Station. The investigation studies the growth of radishes in a microgravity […]
The plant has pinkish-white flowers in summer ROB PEACOCK A rare plant has reappeared after more than a century in hiding. The pinkish-flowered plant, known as grass-poly, was found growing on the banks of an old farmland pond in Norfolk. The mystery species “came back from the dead” after seeds […]
Leipzig is host to the oldest botanical garden in Germany. On an area of only three hectares, around 6500 of the 350,000 plant species worldwide grow here. Credit: Swen Reichhold Leipzig could mean for the future of plant taxonomy what Greenwich meant for world time until 1972: it could become […]
Genes that give plant nucleus its shape discovered, also regulate copper tolerance. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have identified how the architecture of the cell nucleus can change gene activity in plants. This discovery reveals fundamental knowledge about genome regulation and points towards future methods for potentially manipulating the […]
American ginseng is imperiled by overharvesting. Locals are racing to preserve the plant—and its economic potential, through “forest farming.” PHOTOGRAPH: GREGORY K. SCOTT/SCIENCE SOURCE THIS STORY ORIGINALLY appeared on Undark and is part of the Climate Deskcollaboration. Iris Gao keeps a ginseng root in her office. It’s fixed on black velvet with three other […]
Nations are pledging to plant billions of trees. But a new study shows that we’ve underestimated the power of natural forest regrowth to fight climate change. PHOTOGRAPH: VICTOR MORIYAMA/GETTY IMAGES THIS STORY ORIGINALLY appeared on Yale Environment 360 and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When Susan Cook-Patton was doing a postdoc in forest […]
Floating garden in summer. Credit: Abigail Heath. Boulder, Colo., U.S.: Floating gardens sound so idyllic. Now, a study proves that they are more than just a pretty place. The study, by researchers at Illinois State University, demonstrates that such constructed gardens can have a measurable, positive impact on water quality. […]
A tree-lined street in Camden, north London GETTY IMAGES Urban areas are not all high-rise flats and offices, they are also where you’ll find many of the country’s trees. Two London boroughs – Camden and Croydon – were among the top 20 places in England and Wales with the most […]
Researchers are fine-tuning the application of plasma to agriculture to speed up germination and help plants grow strong. Ever since scientists discovered that plasma treatment leads to faster growth and higher yields of some agricultural crops, physicists, chemists, and biologists have been working together to tease out the mechanisms driving this phenomenon. […]