Environment
Eco-friendly sunscreen? That’s bananas!
Bananas make their own natural sunscreens. A teen thinks these could work to protect our skin as well, while being safe for aquatic life.
Plants
More Stories in Plants
- Plants
Let’s learn about plant movement
Some plants use their powers of superspeed to spread spores, while others use it to snatch up prey.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Circumnutation
Plants are always on the move, their tips slowly waving in search of better light — a process called circumnutation.
- Plants
Could trees ever get up and walk away?
In fantasy, trees can walk, climb and even fight. Real trees move, too. It just happens in extreme slow mo.
- Plants
Microbes give plants a way to make ‘meaty’ nutrients
Enzymes from animals helped a test plant make two nutrients essential for a balanced diet. Normally, those nutrients would only be found in meat.
- Chemistry
Let’s learn about chocolate
Humans have been making chocolate for millennia. Now scientists are investigating how to make this tasty treat more abundant and nutritious.
- Plants
Plant and fungi parts help robots level up
Fusing machines with plants and fungi isn’t just sci-fi. A new generation of biohybrid devices could someday help in agriculture or energy production.
- Plants
Explainer: How to identify tree species in the winter
No leaves to be found? Then buds, bark and branches might help you ID what tree you see.
- Climate
Trees may be even bigger climate heroes than we thought
These plants absorb methane, a potent greenhouse gas, in addition to carbon dioxide. Methane’s uptake is likely thanks to microbes living in tree bark.
- Plants
Catapulting pollen helps this flower beat out its rivals
With explosive blasts of pollen, male Hypenia macrantha flowers remove rival pollen from hummingbird beaks before the birds reach female flowers.
