Plants

Earth

Ivy nanoparticles promise sunblocks and other green products

I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with English ivy that’s been devolving towards hate-hate. But a new paper may temper my antipathy. Apparently this backyard bully also offers a kinder, gentler alternative to the potentially toxic metal-based nanoparticles used in today’s sunscreens.

Plants

Bees face ‘unprecedented’ pesticide exposures at home and afield

Honey bees are being hammered by some mysterious environmental plaque that has a name — colony collapse disorder – but no established cause. A two-year study now provides evidence indicting one likely group of suspects: pesticides. It found “unprecedented levels” of mite-killing chemicals and crop pesticides in hives across the United States and parts of Canada.

Plants

Chemists pin down poppy’s tricks for making morphine

Scientists have figured out two of the final key steps in the chain of chemical reactions that the opium poppy uses to synthesize morphine, suggesting possible signaling strategies for new ways of making the drug and its cousin painkillers.

Plants

Losing life’s variety

2010 is the deadline set for reversing declines in biodiversity,  but little has been accomplished.

Ecosystems

Impatiens plants are more patient with siblings

Streamside wildflower holds back on leaf competition when roots meet close kin

Animals

Ants in the pants drive away birds

Yellow crazy ants can get so annoying that birds don’t eat their normal fruits, a new study finds.

Agriculture

Potato famine pathogen packs unusual, sneaky genome

DNA of infamous Phytophthora microbe reveals big, quick-changing zones, possibly the key to the pathogen’s vexing adaptability

Animals

Back off, extinct moa

A New Zealand tree’s peculiar leaves may have served as defenses against long-gone giant birds.

Life

Bent innards give orchid its kick

Violent pollen delivery in Catasetum flowers gets its power from temporarily deformed inner strip

Agriculture

How weed killers might protect our eyes: It’s corny

Herbicides can boost trace-nutrient concentrations in sweet corn.

Physics

Pseudo pores help fling spores

New studies reveal that a thick, soft plant expels its progeny in an unexpected way.

Health & Medicine

Downside of red-hot chili peppers

In the wild, a culinary kick comes with risks to the plant.