Plants
- Earth
Trees mark the spot of buried gold
Tiny bits of the precious metal in eucalyptus leaves indicate treasure lurks belowground.
- Plants
Just a few tree species dominate Amazon forest
The Amazonian rainforest, known to be one of the most species-rich areas on the planet, is actually dominated by a only few tree species.
- Plants
Tiny fossils set record for oldest flowerlike pollen
Oldest flowerlike pollen might have come from an ancient relative of today’s flowering plants.
- Plants
Hard-shelled seaweed survives by its loose knees
Stringy joints between calcified algae’s segments don’t break easily under repeated stresses.
- Plants
Dastardly daisies
This flower isn’t just any old sex cheat. It can be sexually deceptive three ways and in 3-D.
- Life
Genes in wheat relatives help stave off stem rust
Wild and obscure species provide resistance to deadly fungus.
- Plants
Mosses frozen in time come back to life
Buried under a glacier for hundreds of years, plants regrow in the lab.
- Plants
Giant genomes felled by DNA sequencing advances
Complete genetic blueprints have been collected for several conifer species.
- Animals
Native pollinators boost crop yields worldwide
Farms with crops from coffee to mangoes don’t get the best yields if they rely solely on honeybees.
- Plants
The Man Who Planted Trees
Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet by Jim Robbins
- Genetics
Poppies make more than opium
A 10-gene cluster controls the flowers’ production of a valuable cough suppressant and antitumor compound.
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