Celebrating Plants and People
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Obscure Andean Crop That Provokes Theft, Larceny and More
The precious stuff that has provoked sudden larceny and luxury here is not drugs, gems or precious metals. It is a pungent, turnip-like vegetable called maca, heralded as a cancer-fighting superfood and sold on the shelves of supermarkets like Whole Foods.
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Did Fermenting Alcoholic Fruit Save Mankind?
There are hypotheses that the reason humans consume ethanol is because of our recent transition to farming, and how we learned how to ferment grains or fruit, maybe because we wanted to escape consciousness,” he says. “But my study shows that maybe it has its roots in our ancient history as [fruit eaters].”
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Why Is This Orchid So Rare?
He says there are less than 100 majestic spider orchids known in the wild and although the main threats to the species survival include grazing by feral pigs and kangaroos, fire and dieback, the precise cause of its rarity is unknown.
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Santa And Flying Reindeer: The Magic Mushroom Connection
It seems quite possible that the traditional image of Father Christmas, described in Livingston’s poem and universalised by the Coca Cola Company during the 1930s, has its real origins in shamanistic rituals involving the red and white fly agaric toadstool. (Click on image or title for full story.)
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How Trees Are Saving Lions
A modern twist on a traditional structure in Tanzania has proved successful in preventing African lion attacks on livestock and retaliatory killing of lions, according to a new report.
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Plant Caught Trapping Bugs… 47million Years Ago!
What’s interesting about Roridula plants is that unlike pitcher plants or Venus flytraps, they don’t make their own digestive enzymes. They trap insects, but then depend on one of two species of “Roridula bugs” to eat their captured prey. Roridula bugs are insects that produce a greasy substance that lets them live on Roridula plants without getting trapped. The plant then absorbs nutrients excreted in the Roridula bugs’ feces.
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Planting Prairies at Airports Could Make Flying Safer
A recent study concluded that large, flocking birds are less common in prairie areas than in turf areas or agricultural land. Although he “wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a solution…this whole idea of alternative land use could be one part of a really successful strategy” to reduce strikes
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Alan Turing First Describes mathematical theory of morphogenesis: the theory of biological growth
Outline of the development of the daisy
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As Preferred Host Plants Disappear, Bee Populations Plummet
Decline of preferred host plants was a main factor associated with bee decline
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Humans in Africa Grew & Valued Grains over 7,000 Years Ago
The diversity of the diet was much greater than previously assumed. Moreover, the fact that grains were placed in the graves of the deceased implies that they had a special, symbolic meaning.