Plants

  1. Life

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

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

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  2. Plants

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

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

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  3. Plants

    Borrowed genes give mums the blues

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

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  4. Tech

    This robot grows like a plant

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

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  5. Genetics

    How a crop-destroying fungus mutated to infect wheat

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

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  6. 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.

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  7. 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.

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  8. Plants

    Petunias spread their scent using pushy proteins

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

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  9. 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.

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  10. 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.

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  11. 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.

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  12. Plants

    Enzymes aid rice plants’ arsenic defenses

    Rice plant roots have natural defenses against arsenic.

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