“Completes the Circle”: A 40-Year Scientific Journey Leads to a New Truffle Species
As a first-year graduate student studying truffle ecology at Oregon State University, Dan Luoma attended a scientific meeting in 1981 on Orcas Island in Washington….
Plant Science News
Mummified 23-Million-Year-Old Leaves Show Ancient “Global Greening” Spurred by High Atmospheric Carbon
A unique New Zealand deposit opens insights into how modern climate change may proceed. Scientists studying leaves from a 23-million-year-old forest have for the first…
Greenhouses of the Future Offer Desert Growth Opportunities
Efficient greenhouse complexes that will grow crops using the resources available on desert coasts could improve food security for millions. Emerging technologies can be harnessed…
Machinery of Photosynthesis Supercharges Solar Energy to Hydrogen Fuel Conversion
Global economic growth comes with increasing demand for energy, but stepping up energy production can be challenging. Recently, scientists have achieved record efficiency for solar-to-fuel…
Photosynthesis Hacks Boost Yield and Conserve Water
Plants are factories that manufacture yield from light and carbon dioxide—but parts of this complex process, called photosynthesis, are hindered by a lack of raw…
These Unusual Metallic Blue Fruits Have Incredible Dazzling Color – Now Scientists Know How and Why
Researchers have found that a common plant owes the dazzling blue color of its fruit to fat in its cellular structure, the first time this…
Larger Trees More Likely to Die From Drought in the Amazon – Small Trees Offer Hope for Rainforests
Small trees that grow up in drought conditions could form the basis of more drought-resistant rainforests, new research suggests. Severe and long-lasting droughts are becoming…
Grape Seeds Reveal Collapse of Ancient Economy in the Grip of Plague and Climate Change
While we all try to understand the new reality imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, many look to the past for historical precedents such as the…
How Venus Flytraps Snap: Sophisticated Trapping Mechanism Revealed in New Research
Venus flytraps catch spiders and insects by snapping their trap leaves. This mechanism is activated when unsuspecting prey touch highly sensitive trigger hairs twice within…
Eco-Friendly Superfood: Food-Grade Wheatgrass Variety Released for Public Use
Wheatgrass is packed with beneficial nutrients, which makes the crop a popular superfood. And now, more farmers will have access to growing this beneficial crop….
New Research: Trees Absorb Less Carbon Dioxide As the World’s Temperature Rises
Warming Will Reduce Trees’ Ability to Slow Climate Change New research suggests that the most abundant trees in North America absorb less carbon dioxide as…
Virtually Captured: Biomechanical Snapping Mechanisms of the Venus Flytrap Revealed
The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) takes only 100 milliseconds to trap its prey. Once their leaves, which have been transformed into snap traps, have closed,…
Biologists Unravel Tangled Mystery of Plant Cell Growth – Insight Could Lead to Bigger Crops and Better Yields
When cells don’t divide into proper copies of themselves, living things fail to grow as they should. For the first time, scientists now understand how…
Yale Scientists Solve a Thorny Problem: Where Do Thorns Come From?
“Why do plants have thorns?” is an easy question: The thorns help protect against hungry animals that like to munch on the plants. “Where do…
DNA Shows Plants Are Extraordinary Chemists – Making Love and War
Gardenia’s newly sequenced genome highlights how evolutionary tinkering transforms plants into some of nature’s great chemical-makers. Plants are some of nature’s most extraordinary chemists. Unlike…
Tomato’s Hidden DNA Mutations Revealed in Genetic Study of 100 Varieties
Human appetites have transformed the tomato — DNA and all. After centuries of breeding, what was once a South American berry roughly the size of…
New Method for Capturing Carbon via Fluids Emitted From Tree Roots in Wild Forests
It is well known that plants use carbon dioxide obtained from the air in photosynthesis to use as energy and grow bigger. Naoki Makita and…
Fossil Discovered in the 1960s Finally Reveals Its Secrets: New Plant Species That Lived About 365 Million Years Ago
Antoine Champreux, a Ph.D. student in the Global Ecology Lab at Flinders University, has cataloged the discovery of the new fern-like plant species as part…
