Plants, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 30, 2023

Stressed plants 'scream,' and it sounds like popping bubble wrap

When deprived of water or snipped with scissors, plants emit a flurry of staccato screams that are too high-frequency for humans to hear, a study suggests. When lowered into a range that human ears can detect, these stress-induced pops sound like someone furiously tap dancing across a field of bubble...

Mar 31, 2023

Scientists accidentally discover photosynthesis doesn't work exactly like we thought it did

One of the most well-studied chemical processes in nature, photosynthesis, may not work quite how we thought it did, scientists have accidentally discovered. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae and some bacteria convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and sugars to use as energy. To do this,...

May 29, 2023

The oldest tree in the world (and the 7 runner-ups)

The world's oldest trees were growing when the Great Pyramid of Giza was being built and were already thousands of years old when Julius Caesar came to power. To determine a tree's age, scientists collect a core sample from the plant's base and then count its rings. This dating of...

May 31, 2023

Listen to the sounds of Pando, the largest living tree in the world

Researchers have recorded the sounds of the world's largest tree, a 13-million-pound (6 million kilograms) behemoth known as Pando that stretches across 106 acres (43 hectares) in southern Utah. The researchers think that listening to the recordings could give them a better understanding of the sprawling aspen’s health and any...

Jun 5, 2023

Fungi seem to 'sweat' to stay cool and scientists don't know why

Mushrooms and possibly all fungi have the ability to cool down by “sweating” away water, a new study reveals. It’s not yet clear why fungi might want to stay cool. However, the discovery sheds light on a potentially fundamental aspect of fungal biology and may even have implications for human...

Jun 14, 2023

Scientists have finally discovered how photosynthesis starts — by setting it off with a single photon

Light is the basis for almost all life on Earth. Using energy from the sun, plants, algae and some bacteria create complex sugar molecules that serve as the foundations for most of nature's food chains. But parts of this world-feeding chemical reaction have remained somewhat of a mystery — until...

Jun 21, 2023

World's deepest canyon is home to Asia's tallest tree - and Chinese scientists only just found it

A cypress tree in China is the tallest tree ever discovered in Asia. It is also believed to be the second-tallest tree in the world, standing at an astonishing 335 feet (102 meters) tall. At this height, the tree would tower over the Statue of Liberty, which stands at 305...

Jul 17, 2023

How do plants with seedless fruit reproduce?

Sinking your teeth into a juicy, ripe watermelon is one of summer's greatest pleasures, particularly when you don't have to spit out any seeds. Indeed, humans have adapted many fruits to be seedless in pursuit of a more pleasant eating experience. But without seeds, how do such plants reproduce? Fertilization...

Aug 12, 2023

This bizarre little succulent looks like a baby's butt

A small succulent that grows in a huge valley surrounded by mountains in South Africa is often the butt of people's jokes. But why is this cheeky little plant, standing just 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) high, so amusing? A clue might be in its name: bababoutjies — which translates to...

Aug 23, 2023

Tropical rainforests could get too hot for photosynthesis and die if climate crisis continues, scientists warn

Climate change could be gradually making the world's tropical rainforests too hot for photosynthesis to occur, and it may eventually trigger their collapse, a new study has warned. Using data collected from the International Space Station (ISS), scientists found that a small yet growing percentage of tree leaves in tropical...

Sep 4, 2023

Genetically engineered pink pineapples are flying off shelves: What gives them their distinctive color?

Scientists have engineered a pink pineapple: It's unassuming on the outside but a blushing pink on the inside. The new Pinkglow pineapple, which is grown in Costa Rica, is patented and sold by food giant Del Monte and was 16 years in the making — and it's flying off the...

Sep 12, 2023

Mysterious bamboo regeneration baffles scientists ahead of once-in-a-century blooming event

An unusual species of bamboo is about to flower for the first time in over 100 years, which could enable researchers to find out more about its mysterious regeneration process. Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis, or henon bamboo, flowers only once every 120 years before perishing. The current generation of this...

Sep 12, 2023

'Once again, innovation and proliferation ended with catastrophe': The environmental disaster of plants taking over the world

The excerpt below is taken from Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past and Will Shape Our Future (Princeton University Press, 2023) by Stephen Porder. It looks at how one of the biggest events in Earth's history came to be: plants colonizing the continents. Plants are so ubiquitous on land...

Sep 15, 2023

Mystery of 'living fossil' tree frozen in time for 66 million years finally solved

In 1994, hikers discovered a group of strange trees growing in a canyon in Wollemi National Park, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Sydney, Australia. One hiker notified a park service naturalist, who then showed leaf specimens to a botanist. It was ultimately determined they represented an ancient species...

Sep 18, 2023

Asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs allowed flowers to thrive in a post-apocalyptic world

The giant asteroid that snuffed out the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago) left flowers relatively unharmed, and the blooms thrived in the aftermath, a new study has found. Earth lost three-quarters of its species, including all non-avian dinosaurs, when an...