In the cold, dark depths of the Arctic Ocean, a feast of the dead is under way. A vast community of sponges, the densest group of these animals found in…
Category: Life
The first step in using trees to slow climate change: Protect the trees we have
Between a death and a burial was hardly the best time to show up in a remote village in Madagascar to make a pitch for forest protection. Bad timing, however,…
How Romanesco cauliflower forms its spiraling fractals
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…
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…
Corals’ hidden genetic diversity corresponds to distinct lifestyles
Stony corals that build reefs have been hiding their diversity in plain sight. A genetic analysis of the most widespread reef coral in the Indo-Pacific revealed that rather than being…
