Category: Plants & Technology

The overall aspiration of the Center for Mediterranean Archaeology and the Environment is completion of a 10,000-year tree-ring chronology of the entire Mediterranean region.

Natural plant habitats, particularly those found in places that are normally dark at night, such as caves and forests, are being altered by artificial lighting because the increased illumination helps invasive species to thrive. Light at night also prevents flowers from blooming; decreasing crop yields and spoiling natural beauty spots.

The hub has specially adapted vertical green walls that harvest electrons naturally produced as a by-product of photosynthesis and metabolic activity, and convert them into electrical current.

Leftover plant matter from the production of palm oil could provide a generous source for making biofuels and environmentally friendly plastics. Researchers have developed a fungal culture for use in a cheap and efficient method to transform the waste oil palm material into useful products.

Corn is just one choice, though, for a range of stoves now on the market. A long way from the good old cast-iron furnace, these modern appliances can burn fuels including wood, biomass pellets, and even cherry pits.

In Finland, tannin could replace, in particular, fossil-based phenols in adhesives used in the wood products industry.

A type of grass that was once a staple of the American prairie can remove soil laden with PCBs, toxic chemicals once used for cooling and other industrial purposes.

Turning plant matter into liquid fuel or electricity is so inefficient that the approach is unlikely ever to supply a substantial fraction of global energy demand, the report found. It added that continuing to pursue this strategy — which has already led to billions of dollars of investment — is likely to use up vast tracts of fertile land that could be devoted to helping feed the world’s growing population.