Seeds News

June 28, 2025

Top Headlines

83% of Earth’s Climate-Critical Fungi Are Still Unknown

June 15, 2025 — Underground fungi may be one of Earth s most powerful and overlooked allies in the fight against climate change, yet most of them remain unknown to science. Known only by DNA, these "dark taxa" make up a shocking 83% of ectomycorrhizal species fungi ...

Fruit-Eating Mastodons? Ancient Fossils Confirm a Long-Lost Ecological Alliance

June 15, 2025 — 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. ...

How Madagascar’s Lizards Became the Island’s Last Hope for Reforestation

June 10, 2025 — 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 ...

Cotton Virus Circulated Undetected for Nearly 20 Years, Study Finds

May 30, 2025 — A virus responsible for damaging cotton crops across the southern United States has been lurking in U.S. fields for nearly 20 years -- undetected. According to new research, cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV), long believed to be a recent arrival, ...

Cannabis Pangenome Reveals Potential for Medicinal and Industrial Use

May 29, 2025 — Scientists analyzed almost 200 cannabis genomes to create the most comprehensive, high-quality, detailed genetic atlas of the plant to date. The atlas reveals unprecedented diversity and complexity within the species, sets the stage for advances in ...

Ox-Eye Daisy, Bellis and Yarrow: Flower Strips With at Least Two Sown Species Provide 70 Percent More Natural Enemies of Pests

May 26, 2025 — Planting flower strips in a field with at least two species can increase the number of natural enemies of pests by 70 percent. The more flower species, the better the effect, according to a new ...

Wild Spinach Offers Path to Breed Disease Resistance Into Cultivated Varieties

May 20, 2025 — Several varieties of wild spinach that originated in Central Asia show resistance to a destructive soil-borne pathogen that beleaguers growers of spinach seed in the Pacific Northwest -- a finding ...

A Head and a Hundred Tails: How a Branching Worm Manages Reproductive Complexity

May 20, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered the genetic underpinnings of one of the ocean's most bizarre animals: a branching marine worm named Ramisyllis kingghidorahi that lives inside sea sponges and reproduces in ...

How Did Plants Evolve the Ability to Transport Massive Amounts of Protein Into Seed Vacuoles?

May 19, 2025 — A research team has revealed the molecular steps that led to the emergence of this plant-specific vacuolar transport system. Their work shows that the acquisition of this pathway was driven by the ...

Marsupial Research Reveals How Mammalian Embryos Form

May 15, 2025 — Researchers have revealed insight into why embryos erase a key epigenetic mark during early development, suggesting this may have evolved to help form a ...

Genome of Near-Extinct Northern White Rhino Offers Hope for Reviving the Species

May 14, 2025 — The northern white rhinoceros is one of the rarest animals on Earth, with just two females left and no natural way for the species to reproduce. Now, scientists have mapped the entire genome of a ...

Invasive Salmon, Clams and Seaweed Are Next Threats to Biodiversity in Britain

May 12, 2025 — Pink salmon, Purple Asian clams, marine invertebrates that form spaghetti-like colonies and a nematode worm that causes extensive deaths of trees are among the new entries in experts' watchlist of ...

Latest Headlines

updated 2:45pm EDT

What a Dinosaur Ate 100 Million Years ago—Preserved in a Fossilized Time Capsule

June 10, 2025 — A prehistoric digestive time capsule has been unearthed in Australia: plant fossils found inside a sauropod dinosaur offer the first definitive ...

First Fossil Evidence of Endangered Tropical Tree Discovered

May 9, 2025 — Scientists have discovered fossil evidence of an endangered, living tropical tree species. The unprecedented find was made in Brunei, a country on the large island of Borneo, and reveals a critical ...

Okra, Fenugreek Extracts Remove Most Microplastics from Water

May 6, 2025 — The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer. Previously, researchers proposed using these ...

Invasive Weed Threatens Southern California's Deserts

Apr. 25, 2025 — Once thought resistant to invasion, California's deserts are losing native plants to aggressive weedy species like Saharan mustard. New research shows its spread is disrupting biodiversity and ...

How DNA Self-Organizes in the Early Embryo

Apr. 23, 2025 — An international research team has provided a detailed insight into how the spatial organization of genetic material is established in the cell nucleus of early embryos within the first hours after ...

Nature Accounting in Colombia Makes Sound Economic Case for Protecting Native Ecosystems

Apr. 23, 2025 — Paper shares innovative natural capital accounting approach to valuing the benefits of ecosystems in Colombia's Upper Sin Basin to key economic ...

Introduced Trees Are Becoming More Common in the Eastern United States, While Native Diversity Declines

Apr. 21, 2025 — In a new study, researchers used more than 5 million measurements from individual trees across much of eastern North America and showed the rate at ...

First New Plant Tissue Discovered in 160 Years Boosts Crop Yields

Apr. 16, 2025 — A research team has discovered a new tissue in plants that plays an essential role in seed formation by regulating the flow of nutrients into the seed. The team used their findings to increase the ...

Studying How Seals Adapt to Extreme Environments Could Lead to Benefits in Human Reproductive Health

Apr. 15, 2025 — Wild animals that have acquired adaptions to maximize their reproductive output in some of the world's most extreme conditions may provide answers to ...

Lactic Acid Bacteria Can Improve Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives

Apr. 9, 2025 — A new study maps how specific lactic acid bacteria can enhance both the flavor and nutritional quality of plant-based dairy alternatives. The findings may have wide-reaching perspectives for the ...

Declining Insect Biodiversity in the Tropics

Apr. 8, 2025 — Ecologists are investigating the decline of insect populations in the world's tropical forests. Insects, the most abundant and diverse group of animals on Earth, are experiencing alarming ...

Corpse Flowers Are Threatened by Spotty Recordkeeping

Apr. 3, 2025 — Plant biologists examined records for nearly 1,200 individual corpse flower plants from 111 institutions around the world. The data and records were severely lacking and not standardized. Without ...

New Warnings of a 'Butterfly Effect' -- In Reverse

Mar. 31, 2025 — A new study warns that global climate change may have a devastating effect on butterflies, turning their species-rich, mountain habitats from refuges into traps. Think of it as the 'butterfly ...

Using Cover Plants to Remove Pollutants from Arable Soil

Mar. 25, 2025 — Nitrate, pesticides, metals, plastic -- agricultural soils often contain pollutants. But are there sustainable and climate-friendly ways to restore and promote soil health in agricultural land? Yes, ...

Plant Patch Can Detect Stress Signals in Real Time

Mar. 19, 2025 — Environmental conditions can cause damaging stress to plants, posing challenges for home gardeners and farmers. Therefore, early detection -- before leaves visibly discolor, wilt or wither -- is ...

New Fossil Discovery Reveals How Volcanic Deposits Can Preserve the Microscopic Details of Animal Tissues

Mar. 18, 2025 — An analysis of a 30,000-year-old fossil vulture from Central Italy has revealed for the first time that volcanic rock can preserve microscopic details in feathers -- the first ever record of such a ...

Study Explores Effects of Climatic Changes on Christmas Island's Iconic Red Crabs

Mar. 11, 2025 — A new study has investigated one aspect of how the future environmental conditions created by the changing global climate might affect earliest development within Christmas Island's red crab ...

Nearly Half of Popular Tropical Plant Group Related to Birds-of-Paradise and Bananas Are Threatened With Extinction

Mar. 7, 2025 — A new analysis reveals that nearly half of the genus Heliconia, a group of tropical plants popular for their bright, beak-shaped flowers, are threatened with ...

Tropical Forests in the Americas Are Struggling to Keep Pace With Climate Change

Mar. 6, 2025 — Tropical rainforests play a vital role in global climate regulation and biodiversity conservation. However, a major new study reveals that forests across the Americas are not adapting quickly enough ...

Satellite Image Analysis Delivers New Insight Into the Functional Diversity of Tropical Forests

Mar. 5, 2025 — Satellite images from space are allowing scientists to delve deeper into the individual functions of different tropical forest canopies with new and surprising results. Understanding tree traits and ...

New Spatial Mechanism for the Coexistence of Tree Species

Feb. 26, 2025 — The reason why so many tree species can coexist in species-rich forests has long been a subject of debate in ecology. This question is key to understanding the mechanisms governing the dynamics and ...

Coffee Grounds and Reishi Mushroom Spores Can Be 3D Printed Into a Compostable Alternative to Plastics

Feb. 18, 2025 — Researchers developed a new system for turning used coffee grounds into a paste, which they use to 3D print objects, such as packing materials and a vase. They inoculate the paste with Reishi ...

Illuminating the Beginnings of Animal Development

Feb. 5, 2025 — New biophysics research adds to our knowledge about the origins of left-right asymmetry in the ...

First Mouse With Two Male Parents to Reach Adulthood

Jan. 28, 2025 — A team of stem cell scientists have successfully used embryonic stem cell engineering to create a bi-paternal mouse -- a mouse with two male parents -- that lived until adulthood. Their results ...

Ancient Viral DNA Shapes Early Embryo Development

Jan. 20, 2025 — Over half of our genomes consists of thousands of remnants of ancient viral DNA, known as transposable elements, which are widespread across the tree of life. Once dismissed as the 'dark ...

Researchers (Plus Dogs) Discover New Truffle Species

Jan. 17, 2025 — Researchers, citizen scientists and their 'truffle dogs' -- have discovered two new species of truffle. Tuber canirevelatum, meaning the 'dog-found' truffle, was named in honor of ...

Just as Gouda: Improving the Quality of Cheese Alternatives

Jan. 14, 2025 — Scientists are working to produce plant-based cheese with all the characteristics of real cheese, but with better health benefits. To create a cheesy product with the same texture as the real thing, ...

Two-in-One Root Armor Protects Plants from Environmental Stressors and Fights Climate Change

Jan. 9, 2025 — Scientists have created the first single cell genomic atlas of mature plants' outer armor layer, called the periderm, and its carbon-capturing phellem cells. The findings will be useful in ...

Six New Tree Species Named: 3 from Panama, 3 from Colombia

Dec. 23, 2024 — Researchers have named six new tree species based on comparisons made among collections of dried plant specimens from across the Neotropics. Of these six, three of the new species have only been ...

Building a Backbone: Scientists Recreate the Body's 'GPS System' in the Lab

Dec. 18, 2024 — Scientists have generated human stem cell models which contain notochord -- a tissue in the developing embryo that acts like a navigation system, directing cells where to build the spine and nervous ...