Plants, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 6, 2023

Why do leaves change color in the fall?

Every autumn, so-called leaf peepers journey to places like Colorado, Vermont and Massachusetts to take in colorful fall foliage. From coast to coast, green forests slide into shades of red, yellow and orange as the seasons change, and you can often time it right to get the best views. But...

Nov 8, 2023

Mysterious hybrid species discovered hiding among 144-year-old 'zombie seeds' from secretive experiment

Researchers working on a secretive, 144-year-long experiment on zombie seeds have discovered a surprising hybrid plant hiding among the other buried buds. In 1879, botanist William Beal buried 20 glass pint bottles, each filled with wet sand and 50 seeds belonging to 23 species of weeds, at an unknown location...

Dec 14, 2023

California redwoods 'killed' by wildfire come back to life with 2,000-year-old buds

After a massive wildfire swept through California's Big Basin Redwood State Park in 2020, the state's iconic trees appeared to be dying. But then, something incredible happened: Tiny sprouts began to peek through the charred remains. Now, a new study shows how the trees sprouted new growth: They tapped into...

Dec 16, 2023

'Few insect orders have been spared': Why death by parasite keeps life in the forest thriving

There are around 1,000 known species of parasitic fungi, which infest and feed on their insect hosts until just a shell remains. In the adapted excerpt below, from Meetings with Remarkable Mushrooms (The University of Chicago Press, 2023), Alison Pouliot encounters a species that targets the larvae of ghost moths,...

Jan 8, 2024

Fossils locked away for 1.75 billion years hold clues about key moment in Earth's history

The earliest direct evidence of photosynthesis has been discovered in fossils dating back to 1.75 billion years ago. Scientists collected fossils from Australia, Canada and the Democratic Republic of Congo and found the samples from Australia and Canada contained evidence of cyanobacteria, the oldest known lifeform on Earth. Scientists believe...

Jan 9, 2024

23 million-year-old petrified mangrove forest discovered hiding in plain sight in Panama

An ancient mangrove forest with trees that towered up to 130 feet high has been discovered over 20 million years after a volcanic mudflow smothered it in what is now Panama, a new study reveals. Researchers first discovered the fossils in 2018 during a geological expedition on Barro Colorado Island...

Feb 2, 2024

'We were gobsmacked': 350 million-year-old tree fossils are unlike any scientists have ever seen

Exceptionally preserved plant fossils belonging to bizarre bushy trees have been unearthed in southeastern Canada, new research shows. The ancient trees are unlike anything scientists have ever seen and may be examples of evolutionary experimentation. An earthquake 350 million years ago toppled the trees and entombed them in a mud...

Feb 28, 2024

'Living fossil' tree frozen in time for 66 million years being planted in secret locations

Scientists are planting living fossil trees in secret locations in a bid to bring back the lost species from the brink of extinction — an effort that could take centuries. Wollemi pines (Wollemia nobilis) were believed to have disappeared some 2 million years ago. Fossils of the species dating the...

Mar 8, 2024

390 million-year-old fossilized forest is the oldest ever discovered

Fossilized trees discovered by chance in southwest England belong to Earth's earliest-known forest, new research has found. The 390 million-year-old fossils supplant the Gilboa fossil forest in New York state, which dates back 386 million years, as the world's oldest known forest. The new discovery highlights differences between the two...