Plants
- Plants
Earthworm invaders may be stressing out some maples
Worms are great for soil when ecosystems have evolved with them. But in earthworm-free places, like parts of the U.S. Upper Midwest, they can cause problems for plants and animals.
- Plants
Cool Job: Rethinking how plants hunt for water
Studies probing the very beginnings of root development may have important implications for growing food in a world where the climate is changing.
- Chemistry
Why onions make us cry
Researchers add another piece to the molecular puzzle biochemists have tried to solve for decades — why onions can make our eyes tear up.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Capsaicin
This chemical is produced by pepper plants and gives them their hot flavor.
- Agriculture
Scientists Say: Domestication
Domestication is the process of deliberately taking a wild organism — a plant or animal for instance — and making it a part of our daily lives.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Guttation
When water vapor can’t escape a plant, it might force its way out through a process called guttation.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Stomata
Plants have pores they open and close to let oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor in and out. These pores are called stomata.
- Ecosystems
America’s duck lands: These ‘potholes’ are under threat
North America’s prairies are in trouble. Scientists race against the clock for clues about how to save the plants — and animals — that call it home.
- Environment
Cleaning up water that bees like to drink
Plant roots suck up pesticides used on soils, then release them into water that can seep from their leaves. This is a sweetened water that bees love to sip. A teen figured out how to remove most of the pesticide with bits of charcoal.
- Tech
Wired and weird: Meet the cyborg plants
By mixing electronics with greenery, engineers have made plants that conduct electricity, detect bombs and send email.
- Animals
Under blanket of ice, lakes teem with life
Life under frozen lakes is vibrant, complex and surprisingly active, new research finds. In fact, some plants and animals can only live under the ice. But with climate change, will that continue?
- Plants
Warm petals may attract chilly bees
Dark-purple violet petals are warmer than a light-purple variant. And and that warmth might explain their attraction to potentially chilly bees.
