Celebrating Plants and People
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This Source Of Disease-Fighting Drugs Is Down To Last Three Trees
Three Chinese fir trees on a nature reserve in Southeastern China are the last of their kind. As their existence is threatened by human disturbance and climate change, researchers are hurrying to learn everything they can about the tree — which might inspire new and more effective ways to treat various cancers. (Click on title for full story.)
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Mangrove Forests Are Disappearing… Except where Mangroves Are Becoming Invasive
Warmer temperatures are causing more tropical species to move northward. Among these are black mangroves, whose abundance is steadily increasing in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Black mangroves grow as short trees in a dwarf forest and displace many plants common to Gulf salt marshes. (Click on title for full story)
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Research Shows Plants Can “Hear” And Also “Speak”
They showed that some plants can hear the sounds of animal pollinators and react by rapidly sweetening their nectar. ..they found that other plants make high-pitched noises that lie beyond the scope of human hearing but can nonetheless be detected some distance away. (Click on title for full story.)
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A New Disease Is Spreading Among Beech Trees
“It’s hard at this point to say where this disease will go, but it has all the hallmarks of something like emerald ash borer or sudden oak death, threats to trees that start slowly and quickly pick up speed. We seem to be in that rapid expansion phase right now,” (Click on title for full story)
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Planting Hedges Along Roads May Keep Us All Healthier
We investigated the influence of roadside green infrastructure (GI) on concentrations of particulate matter ≤10 μm (PM10), ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5), ≤1 μm (PM1), black carbon (BC) and particle number concentrations (PNC) under three GI configurations – (i) hedges only, (ii) trees only, and (iii) a mix of trees and hedges/shrubs – separately in close (<1m) and away (>2m) road conditions. These configurations gave us a total of six different real-world scenarios for evaluation (Click on title for full story.)
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Are Native Plant Nurseries Introducing New Superbugs Into Ecological Restoration Sites?
While ecologists have long been wary of exotic plant pathogens borne on imported ornamental plants, this was the first time in California that these microorganisms had been found in native plants used in restoration efforts. Their presence in restoration sites raised the frightening possibility that ecological restoration, rather than returning disturbed sites to their natural beauty, may actually be introducing deadly plant pathogens, such as those related to Sudden Oak Death, into the wild. (Click on title for full story)
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Soon Your Old Christmas Tree Might Be Transformed Into An Array Of Products
The process is sustainable and creates zero waste as the solid by-product can be useful too in other industrial chemical processes. Fresh trees and older, abandoned Christmas trees can both be used. (Click on title for full story.)
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Cannabis Changes Sperm DNA. But What Will That Mean For Users’ Children?
“In terms of what it means for the developing child, we just don’t know,” (Click on title for full story)
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Amazing Newly Discovered Wild Plants Of 2018
Plant collectors have searched for the hidden wonders of the plant world for centuries.Yet plants that are new to science are still being described, at a rate of about 2,000 a year. Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, discovered and named more than 100 new plants in 2018. Their list of the top new plants includes carnivorous pitcher plants, exotic orchids and climbers with untapped medicinal powers. (Click on title for full story.)
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With A Little GMO A Common Houseplant Becomes An Indoor Pollution Fighter
“People haven’t really been talking about these hazardous organic compounds in homes, and I think that’s because we couldn’t do anything about them. Now we’ve engineered houseplants to remove these pollutants for us.” (Click on title for full story.)