Getting hit by lightning is not usually a good thing. But one tropical tree species seems to harness heaven’s wrath. Not only do the trees survive lightning strikes, but their…
Category: Plants
Watch live plant cells build their cell walls
Imaging wall-less plant cells every six minutes for 24 hours revealed how the cells build their protective barriers.
A nearly century-old dead date palm tree helped solve an ancestry mystery
What the island nation of Cape Verde cherishes as its own distinctive kind of date palm is getting an ancestry reveal. The Cape Verde date palm (Phoenix atlantica), native to…
Some trees are coping with extreme heat surprisingly well
Ecologist Akhil Javad felt the thrill of fieldwork quickly fade when he was faced with the prospect of scaling trees over five times his height. But for some of the…
Robots are gaining new capabilities thanks to plants and fungi
Biohybrid robots made with plant and fungal tissue are more sensitive to their surroundings.
A bacteria-based Band-Aid helps plants heal their wounds
Got a plant with a boo-boo? Try a plant Band-Aid. A pure form of cellulose produced by bacteria can act as a plant bandage, researchers report, significantly boosting healing and…
A new book explores the evolutionary romance between plants and animals
When the Earth Was GreenRiley BlackSt. Martin’s Press, $29 Imagine being a paleontologist exploring Utah’s Jurassic-aged rocks. Imagine discovering the bones of a 20-meter-long, 20-ton herbivorous dinosaur. Then consider: How…
Meet a scientist tracking cactus poaching in the Atacama Desert
Pablo Guerrero has been visiting cacti in the Atacama Desert his whole life, first on family trips to the Chilean coast and later as a researcher studying the impacts of…
Carnivorous plants eat faster with a fungal friend
Insects have plenty to beware when it comes to carnivorous plants. Add an acid-loving fungus to that list of dangers. Sundew plants have tentacle-like leaves that curl around and entrap…
Bird nests made with a toxic fungus seem to fend off attacking ants
When building a bird nest in ant territory, the best defense could be an offensive fungus. Swollen-thorn acacia trees are aggressively defended by multiple species of ants. And yet, several…
