botany Archives

Image showing wheat sprouts, the green one on the right pretreated with ethanol to help survive droughts and the withered one on the left untreated.

Botany Climate Change

Ethanol May Help Crops Survive Droughts

September 12, 2023September 12, 2023 Science Connectedagriculture, biochemistry, botany, climate change, drought

Droughts can wreak havoc on food supply and crop production, but a new study shows that ethanol can help crops survive.

Botany Chemistry

Pollinators Attracted by Hidden Patterns in Petals

December 7, 2022December 6, 2022 Science Connectedanimals, botany, flowers, pollinators

To better attract pollinators, plants change the chemical and physical properties of their petals to produce alluring colors.

Botany Nature Photography

Springtime Plants and Sheltering in Place

May 7, 2020May 5, 2020 Science Connectedbotany, COVID-19, mental health, plants, Spring

Springtime plants are proving their worth more than ever as most of the world continues to shelter in place from COVID-19.

Biology Botany Genetics and Heredity

Genome Revelations: How Green Plants Evolved

December 4, 2019November 22, 2021 Science Connectedbiodiversity, botany, evolution, genome

By Jacqueline Mattos Plants are ancestral organisms that have evolved over millions of years, leading to the broad diversity we see today. Green plants evolved from a common ancestor into approximately 450,000–500,000 species today. There are many gaps in understanding of their diversification that scientists still struggle to fill. In a recent paper published in Nature, researchers from the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative reviewed and analyzed genomic data from 1,124 plant species and provided the most complete evolutionary relationship tree for green plants to date. Genomes, transcriptomes, and phylogenetics…

Anthropology Biology Botany Chemistry

Leaf Age Matters for Plant Survival

April 11, 2019April 3, 2019 Science Connectedbotany, plant communication

By Radhika Desikan Does age really matter? For us humans, age seems to be a very sensitive issue relevant to how we live our lives. And while it also matters to plants, it does so at a different level. Some of our tissues, like skin, have cells that are constantly dividing (to replace dead cells) and therefore differ in age, but what defines our age as an organism is not the life span of individual cells in our body, but rather the length of time that has passed since our…

Biology Botany Physics

How Do Plants Know Which Way to Grow?

October 10, 2018December 12, 2023 Science Connectedbiology, botany, environment, gravity, plants

How do plants know which way is up and which way is down? No matter which way you put a seed in the soil, it will always send its roots down and its shoots up.

Biology Citizen Science Environment

Strengthening the Endangered Species Act

February 16, 2016January 22, 2023 Science Connectedanimals, botany, ESA, extinction, rare animals

Is it time to strengthen the endangered species act? Species are disappearing at a rapid pace, and the ESA is finding it hard to keep up.

Biology Nature Photography

Autumn Leaves: Last, Loveliest Smile

October 27, 2015October 26, 2015 Science Connectedbiology, botany, leaves, nature photography

By Steven Spence Going Out in a Blaze of Glory Autumn … the year’s last, loveliest smile. (William Cullen Bryant) Fall is my favorite season for many reasons, but foremost among them is the joy I feel when surrounded by thousands of patches of light in a cacophony of colors all rustling in the wind. There are only a few special weeks each year to enjoy this transition from the searing heat of summer to winter’s icy grip. Whenever something captivates my imagination (or optic nerves) I want to learn…