The swirling green cones that make up the head of Romanesco cauliflower also form a fractal pattern — one that repeats itself on multiple scales. Now, the genes that underlie…
Author: ID
A widely studied lab plant has revealed a previously unknown organ
A common lab plant that’s been poked and put under microscopes for decades may seem unlikely to keep secrets. But in widely studied Arabidopsis thaliana, scientists have identified the “cantil”…
These ferns may be the first plants known to share work like ants
High in the forest canopy, a mass of strange ferns grips a tree trunk, looking like a giant tangle of floppy, viridescent antlers. Below these fork-leaved fronds and closer into…
‘Tree farts’ contribute about a fifth of greenhouse gases from ghost forests
If a tree farts in the forest, does it make a sound? No, but it does add a smidge of greenhouse gas to the atmosphere. Gases released by dead trees…
Catnip repels insects. Scientists may have finally found out how
A whiff of catnip can make mosquitoes buzz off, and now researchers know why. The active component of catnip (Nepeta cataria) repels insects by triggering a chemical receptor that spurs…
Modified genes can distort wild cotton’s interactions with insects
Cotton plants native to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula may all look the same — unkempt and untamed bushes with flowers that shift from pale yellow to violet as pollinators visit them.…
A reeking, parasitic plant lost its body and much of its genetic blueprint
For most of their lives, plants in the Sapria genus are barely anything — thin ribbons of parasitic cells winding inside vines in Southeast Asian rainforests. They become visible only…
These are the 5 costliest invasive species, causing billions in damages
Invasive species can wreak havoc on local ecosystems. Cleaning up that biological wreckage comes at a big price. These invaders, often thrust into new environments unintentionally (or intentionally, to combat…
Weather radar shows 30 metric tons of grasshoppers swarmed Las Vegas one night
The dazzling lights of Las Vegas are meant to attract. And on one summer night, they did just that, luring millions of grasshoppers— a whopping 30.2 metric tons’ worth. That…
How kelp forests off California are responding to an urchin takeover
Joshua Smith has been diving in kelp forests in Monterey Bay along the central coast of California since 2012. Back then, he says, things looked very different. Being underwater was…
