Seeds News

December 22, 2024

Top Headlines

An Inexpensive Fix for California's Struggling Wildflowers

Dec. 19, 2024 — California's native wildflowers are being smothered by layers of dead, invasive grasses. A new study shows that simply raking these layers can boost biodiversity and reduce fire ...

Researchers Identify a Mysterious Fossil Seed to Reveal New Chapters in Climate History of Los Angeles

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists have successfully identified a previously unknown species to Southern California from fossilized seeds, revealing a drought-fueled dance between two species of juniper with lessons for the ...

Across Southeastern US, Weedy Rice Steals Herbicide Resistance from Crop Rice

Dec. 16, 2024 — A new study shows that more than half of the weedy rice sampled in the rice-growing region of the southeastern U.S. has become herbicide ...

Human Disruption Is Driving 'Winner' and 'Loser' Tree Species Shifts Across Brazilian Forests

Dec. 10, 2024 — Fast-growing and small-seeded tree species are dominating Brazilian forests in regions with high levels of deforestation and degradation, a new study shows. This has potential implications for the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 6:14pm EST

Neem Seed Extract Improves Effectiveness of Pesticide

Dec. 6, 2024 — A research group has developed an innovative pesticide delivery system called nanopesticides. These tiny technologies could change how we use ...

Insects Wearing Two Hats Solve Botanical Mystery

Dec. 4, 2024 — The discovery of a unique case where the same insect species both pollinate a plant and distribute its seeds not only solves a long-standing botanical mystery. The find also stresses the diverse ...

New Study Reveals the Explosive Secret of the Squirting Cucumber

Nov. 25, 2024 — A team has solved a mystery that has intrigued scientists for centuries: how does the squirting cucumber squirt? The findings were achieved through a combination of experiments, high-speed ...

What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Nov. 21, 2024 — Morning glory plants that can resist the effects of glyphosate also resist damage from herbivorous insects, according to a new ...

The Reasons Flowers Wilt Could Explain How Plants Spend (and Save) Their Energy

Nov. 1, 2024 — Wilting flowers might not signal poor flower or plant health, but rather the effects of a sophisticated resource management strategy in plants, ...

New Illinois Study Explores Adoption of Robotic Weeding to Fight Superweeds

Oct. 30, 2024 — Most corn and soybean fields in the U.S. are planted with herbicide-resistant crop varieties. However, the evolution of superweeds that have developed resistance to common herbicides is jeopardizing ...

Modern Mass Extinction in an Ecuadorean Cloud Forest Found to Be a Mirage

Oct. 15, 2024 — An international team of botanists finds no proof of extinctions in Centinela, but abundant evidence that Centinela's flora lives on in the scattered remaining fragments of coastal Ecuador's ...

Mexican Jumping Beans Jump to Safety in a Dynamic World

Oct. 8, 2024 — What makes Mexican jumping beans jump? Research reveals that Mexican jumping bean larvae respond to different colors of light, jumping more vigorously under different hues, which can help them avoid ...

New Seed Fossil Sheds Light on Wind Dispersal in Plants

Oct. 8, 2024 — Scientists have discovered one of the earliest examples of a winged seed, granting insight into the origin and early evolution of wind dispersal strategies in ...

The True Global Impact of Species-Loss Caused by Humans Is Far Greater Than Expected

Oct. 3, 2024 — The extinction of hundreds of bird species caused by humans over the last 130,000 years has led to substantial reductions in avian functional ...

New Milestone in Plant Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Sep. 25, 2024 — Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a versatile technique in the biomedical field, but its application to the study of plant metabolism in vivo remains challenging. A research team reports the ...

Stopping Plants from Passing Viruses to Their Progeny

Sep. 19, 2024 — Scientists have learned how plants keep viruses from being passed to their offspring, a finding that could ensure healthier crops. The discovery could also help reduce the transmission of diseases ...

The Unexpected Protein Connection in Maize Growth and Defense

Sep. 17, 2024 — Recent research has revealed that a family of proteins called COI1, previously associated with defense mechanisms in other plant species like Arabidopsis and rice, primarily regulates growth in maize ...

Team Unravels Regulatory Mechanism That Prevents Stem Cell Differentiation and Maintains Gender Balance in Vascular Plants

Sep. 12, 2024 — Plant scientists have identified a protein that plays a previously unknown role in controlling cell differentiation and determining gender in vascular plants, using a fern model. The discovery ...

Century-Old Experiment Secures Beer and Whiskey's Future

Sep. 11, 2024 — Thanks to an experiment started before the Great Depression, researchers have pinpointed the genes behind the remarkable adaptability of barley, a key ingredient in beer and whiskey. These insights ...

Killing Giant Ragweed Just Got Harder for Some Wisconsin Farmers

Aug. 21, 2024 — When giant ragweed takes hold in a crop field, the towering weed reduces yield and sends plumes of its famously allergy-inducing pollen into the air. There are few tools available to thwart the ...

Researchers Uncover the Secrets of 'Plant Puberty'

Aug. 20, 2024 — Researchers have identified the genetic changes linked to why plants go through a developmental change similar to 'puberty' at different rates, a discovery which could lead to better crop ...

Why Do Plants Wiggle? New Study Provides Answers

Aug. 15, 2024 — Decades after his voyage on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin became fascinated by why plants move as they grow -- spinning and twisting into corkscrews. Now, more than 150 years later, a new study may ...

Giant Fossil Seeds from Borneo Record Ancient Plant Migration

Aug. 14, 2024 — Ancient fossil beans about the size of modern limes, and among the largest seeds in the fossil record, may provide new insight into the evolution of today's diverse Southeast Asian and ...

Plants Offer Fruit to Insects to Disperse Dust-Like Seeds

Aug. 7, 2024 — Fruit exist to invite animals to disperse the swallowed seeds. A research team found that plants targeting insects rather than birds or mammals for this service are more common than previously ...

Scientists Devise Method to Secure Earth's Biodiversity on the Moon

July 31, 2024 — New research led proposes a plan to safeguard Earth's imperiled biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon. The moon's permanently shadowed craters are cold ...

Precise Genetics: New CRISPR Method Enables Efficient DNA Modification

July 30, 2024 — A research group has developed a new method that further improves the existing CRISPR/Cas technologies: it allows a more precise and seamless introduction of tags into proteins at the gene level. ...

Cracking Open a Tasty Menu for Captive Marsupials to Sink Their Teeth Into

July 12, 2024 — From sifting through topsoil for native truffles to cracking open hard shells of seeds and nuts to munch on the tasty kernels, Australia bettongs and potoroos are described as 'ecosystem ...

Wastewater Is a Viable Medium for Growing Lettuce in Hydroponic Systems

July 3, 2024 — Urban agriculture has the potential to improve food security through local, efficient, and sustainable food production. Examples of urban food systems include hydroponics, where plants grow in a ...

Blue and Great Tits Deploy Surprisingly Powerful Memories to Find Food

July 3, 2024 — Blue and great tits recall what they have eaten in the past, where they found the food and when they found it, a new study shows. In the first experiment of its kind to involve wild animals, blue and ...

Sixty-Million-Year-Old Grape Seeds Reveal How the Death of the Dinosaurs May Have Paved the Way for Grapes to Spread

July 1, 2024 — Scientists discovered the oldest fossil grapes in the Western Hemisphere, which help show how after the death of the dinosaurs, grapes spread across the ...

Insecticides Contributed to Loss of Butterflies Across American Midwest, Study Finds

June 20, 2024 — Insecticide use is a major factor causing a decrease in the size and diversity of butterfly populations across the US Midwest, according to a new ...

Scientists Engineer Yellow-Seeded Camelina With High Oil Output

June 11, 2024 — Using tools of modern genetics, plant biochemists have produced a new high-yielding oilseed crop variety -- a yellow-seeded variety of Camelina sativa, a close relative of canola, that accumulates ...

Orchids Support Seedlings Through 'Parental Nurture' Via Shared Underground Fungal Networks

May 29, 2024 — Orchid plants nurture their seedlings via an underground fungal network, new research has ...

Roots Are a Key to Drought-Tolerant Maize

May 22, 2024 — Maize can grow successfully in very different local conditions. An international study has now demonstrated the important role of the plant root system. The researchers analyzed more than 9,000 ...