Celebrating Plants and People
-
How Plants Have Become Climate Change Moderaters
A decrease in global deforestation combined with enhanced vegetation growth caused by the rapid increase in carbon dioxide changed the land from a carbon source into a carbon sink.
-
Disguised As Flower, Mantis Catch More Prey
Their bright floral colours and petal shaped legs create a tantalizing lure for insects. So it seems that orchid mantises not only look like flowers but also beat flowers at their own game.
-
Tree That Survives By Stealing Water From Neighbors
Basically the Australian Christmas tree has all its neighbour plants working for it. On searching for host roost the Christmas tree roots can spread over 100 m or more. Hence a single Christmas tree can cover an extensive area parasitizing a vast number of different plant species,mostly shrubs and herbs
-
Rub Your Houseplants The Right Way To Keep Them Healthier
Botanists have discovered that gently rubbing the foliage between a thumb and forefinger helps to activate plants' defence mechanisms, helping to improve their ability to resist disease.
-
The Attack Of The Ancient Walking Plants!
Researchers in France have discovered a strange new type of movement in plants – tiny spores that walk and jump
-
How To Save Almost 70% Of Plant Species
Looking at data on over 100,000 flower plants, scientists determined that protecting 17 percent of the world's land (focusing on priority plant areas) would conserve 67 percent of the world's plants.
-
Teaching Kids That Plants Can Fight Back
The results showed that more than 80% of students reported a greater appreciation of plants and had acquired new perspective of learning about plants. They now viewed plants as active organisms and had gained new understanding of their defensive mechanisms
-
Plants Anticipate Attacks… And Prepare!
Plants can eavesdrop on herbivore cues to mount a defensive response even before any plant is attacked.
-
Carnivorous Plant Inspires New Glass technology
Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS) — the slipperiest synthetic surface known — was inspired by the slick strategy of the carnivorous pitcher plant, which lures insects onto the ultraslippery surface of its leaves, where they slide to their doom. Unlike earlier water-repelling materials, SLIPS repels oil and sticky liquids like honey, and it resists ice formation and bacterial biofilms as well.
-
Yellowstone Wolves Protect Grizzlies
The return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park may be helping imperiled grizzly bears to survive by keeping elk herds on the move and preventing them from destroying berries that are a staple food for grizzlies, according to a new study.