Plants

Life

Light pollution can foil plant-insect hookups, and not just at night

Upsetting nocturnal pollinators has daylight after-effects for Swiss meadow flowers.

Plants

A new portrait of the world’s first flower is unveiled

A reconstruction of the first flowers suggests the ancient blooms were bisexual.

Plants

Borrowed genes give mums the blues

Scientists have genetically modified chrysanthemums to be “true blue” for the first time.

Tech

This robot grows like a plant

A new soft robot navigates its environment by growing in a manner inspired by plants.

Genetics

How a crop-destroying fungus mutated to infect wheat

Study details how wheat got a new pathogen called blast fungus.

Plants

Hermaphrodite wildflower has its own battle of the sexes

A new example of sexual conflict shows up in a plant with a troublesome pollinator.

Plants

How to eavesdrop on kelp

Sounds reverberating through a kelp bed can be linked to environmental factors, suggesting a low-key way to monitor undersea communities.

Plants

Petunias spread their scent using pushy proteins

Scent molecules hitch a ride on a particular protein to escape flowers.

Plants

Floral curve test shows what’s great for a moth is not so good for a flower

3-D printed flowers reveal a hidden conflict between a hawk moth and the flowers it pollinates.

Plants

Genetic switch offers clue to why grasses are survival masters

Scientists have identified a genetic switch that helps grasses regulate their carbon dioxide intake.

Animals

How one enslaving wasp eats through another

A wasp that forces oaks to grow a gall gets tricked into digging an escape tunnel for its killers.

Plants

Enzymes aid rice plants’ arsenic defenses

Rice plant roots have natural defenses against arsenic.