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Botany News

September 2, 2025

Top Headlines

 

A new study reveals that the majority of Earth’s species stem from a few evolutionary explosions, where new traits or habitats sparked rapid diversification. From flowers to birds, these bursts explain most of the planet’s ...
Planting more trees can help cool the planet and reduce fire risk—but where they are planted matters. According to UC Riverside researchers, tropical regions provide the most powerful climate benefits because trees there grow year-round, absorb ...
NASA-backed simulations reveal that meltwater from Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier lifts deep-ocean nutrients to the surface, sparking large summer blooms of phytoplankton that feed the Arctic food ...
Weaver ants have cracked a teamwork puzzle that humans have struggled with for over a century — instead of slacking off as their group grows, they work harder. These tiny architects not only build elaborate leaf nests but also double their pulling ...
Ape behavior just got a name upgrade — “scrumping” — and it might help explain why humans can handle alcohol so well. Researchers discovered that African apes regularly eat overripe, ...
Fermenting stevia with a banana leaf-derived probiotic turns it into a powerful cancer-fighting agent that kills pancreatic cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. The secret lies in a metabolite called CAME, produced through microbial ...
Scientists have discovered that a protein once thought to be just a cellular "courier" actually helps plants survive drought. This motor protein, myosin XI, plays a critical role in helping leaves close their pores to conserve water. When it's ...
Climate change is silently sapping the nutrients from our food. A pioneering study finds that rising CO2 and higher temperatures are not only reshaping how crops grow but are also degrading their nutritional value especially in vital leafy greens ...
Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, ...
Kenyan fig trees can literally turn parts of themselves to stone, using microbes to convert internal crystals into limestone-like deposits that lock away carbon, sweeten surrounding soils, and still yield fruit—hinting at a delicious new weapon in ...
Lichen from the Mojave Desert has stunned scientists by surviving months of lethal UVC radiation, suggesting life could exist on distant planets orbiting volatile stars. The secret? A microscopic “sunscreen” layer that protects their vital ...
Two Ice Age wolf pups once thought to be early dogs have been identified as wild wolves, thanks to detailed DNA and chemical analysis. Surprisingly, their last meals included woolly rhinoceros ...

Latest Headlines

updated 3:48am EDT

Earlier Headlines

 

In a bold step toward sustainable space travel, scientists are engineering a radically small, protein-rich rice that can grow in space. The Moon-Rice project, led by the Italian Space Agency in ...

Scientists at MIT have turbocharged one of nature’s most sluggish but essential enzymes—rubisco—by applying a cutting-edge evolution technique in living cells. Normally prone to wasteful ...

Leafcutter ants live in highly organized colonies where every ant has a job, and now researchers can flip those jobs like a switch. By manipulating just two neuropeptides, scientists can turn ...

During Earth's ancient Snowball periods, when the entire planet was wrapped in ice, life may have endured in tiny meltwater ponds on the surface of equatorial glaciers. MIT researchers ...

Beetles that can see the color red? That s exactly what scientists discovered in two Mediterranean species that defy the norm of insect vision. While most insects are blind to red, these beetles use ...

Ten thousand years after mastodons disappeared, scientists have unearthed powerful fossil evidence proving these elephant cousins were vital seed spreaders for large-fruited trees in South America. ...

A prehistoric digestive time capsule has been unearthed in Australia: plant fossils found inside a sauropod dinosaur offer the first definitive glimpse into what these giant creatures actually ate. ...

After millions of years of evolutionary isolation, Madagascar developed an unparalleled array of wildlife, and recent research has uncovered an unsung ecological hero: the lizard. Though often ...

Scientists have discovered that a molecule known for defending animal immune systems called itaconate also plays a powerful role in plants. Researchers showed that itaconate not only exists in plant ...

Scientists have uncovered over 200 new giant viruses lurking in ocean waters that not only help shape marine ecosystems but also manipulate photosynthesis in algae. These massive viruses once nearly ...

The biosynthesis of the great variety of natural plant products has not yet been elucidated for many medically interesting substances. In a new study, an international team of researchers was able to ...

Making a discovery with the potential for innovative applications in pharmaceutical development, a microbiology student has found a long sought-after fungus that produces effects similar to the ...

California Central Valley, which is known for the agriculture that produces much of the nation's fruits, vegetables and nuts, is a major contributor to a growing dust problem that has profound ...

New research shows that the presence of solar panels in Colorado's grasslands may reduce water stress, improve soil moisture levels and -- particularly during dry years -- increase plant growth ...

Laboratory could improve crop resilience In a discovery three decades in the making, scientists have acquired detailed knowledge about the internal structures and mode of regulation for a specialized ...

To achieve the European Green Deal's goal of 25% organic agriculture by 2030, researchers argue that new genomic techniques (NGTs) should be allowed without pre-market authorization in organic ...

A new study reveals that the aerobic nitrogen cycle in the ocean may have occurred about 100 million years before oxygen began to significantly accumulate in the atmosphere, based on nitrogen isotope ...

A professor of crop sciences and of plant biology describes research efforts to 'future-proof' the crops that are essential to feeding a hungry world in a changing climate. Long, who has ...

Scientists have pioneered a new way to breed climate-resilient crops faster by combining plant genebank data with climate and DNA analysis. The method, tested on sorghum, could speed up global ...

Replanting forests can help cool the planet even more than some scientists once believed, especially in the tropics. But even if every tree lost since the mid-19th century is replanted, the total ...

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