Reference Terms
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Plant
A plant is a living organism that belongs to the kingdom Plantae and is characterized by its ability to produce its own food through photosynthesis. Most plants are rooted in soil, have stems and leaves, and contain the green pigment chlorophyll, which captures sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. This process not only sustains the plant itself but also supports life on Earth by generating oxygen and serving as the foundation of most food chains.
Plants come in a wide variety of forms, from tiny mosses and grasses to towering trees and flowering shrubs. They play critical roles in ecosystems by stabilizing soil, regulating water cycles, providing habitats, and storing carbon. Many plants also have reproductive structures such as flowers or cones and produce seeds that enable them to reproduce and spread.
In addition to their ecological importance, plants are essential to human life. They provide food, medicine, fiber, fuel, and raw materials for countless industries. Their beauty and diversity also contribute to cultural and aesthetic value around the world. Understanding and protecting plant life is key to preserving biodiversity and sustaining the health of the planet.
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Earth & Climate News
February 17, 2026
Feb. 16, 2026 Even Antarctica’s toughest native insect can’t escape the reach of plastic pollution. Scientists have discovered that Belgica antarctica — a tiny, rice-sized midge and the southernmost insect on Earth — is already ingesting microplastics in ...
Feb. 15, 2026 Scientists have developed a powerful new way to trace the journey of water across the planet by reading tiny atomic clues hidden inside it. Slightly heavier versions of hydrogen and oxygen, called isotopes, shift in predictable ways as water ...
Feb. 12, 2026 Long before agriculture, humans were transforming Europe’s wild landscapes. Advanced simulations show that hunting and fire use by Neanderthals and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers reshaped forests and ...
Feb. 12, 2026 A new scientific review challenges the headline-grabbing claim that Yellowstone’s returning wolves triggered one of the strongest trophic cascades on Earth. Researchers found that the reported 1,500% surge in willow growth was based on circular ...
Feb. 12, 2026 Coral reefs, worth an estimated $9.8 trillion a year to humanity, are in far worse shape than previously realized. A massive international study found that during the 2014–2017 global marine heatwave, more than half of the world’s reefs suffered ...
Feb. 12, 2026 Even when Earth was locked in its most extreme deep freeze, the planet’s climate may not have been as silent and still as once believed. New research from ancient Scottish rocks reveals that during Snowball Earth — when ice sheets reached the ...
Feb. 10, 2026 Around 1550, life on Rapa Nui began changing in ways long misunderstood. New research reveals that a severe drought, lasting more than a century, dramatically reduced rainfall on the already water-scarce island, reshaping how people lived, ...
Feb. 10, 2026 Methane levels in Earth’s atmosphere surged faster than ever in the early 2020s, and scientists say the reason was a surprising mix of chemistry and climate. A temporary slowdown in the atmosphere’s ability to break down methane allowed the gas ...
Feb. 9, 2026 Forests around the world are quietly transforming, and not for the better. A massive global analysis of more than 31,000 tree species reveals that forests are becoming more uniform, increasingly dominated by fast-growing “sprinter” trees, while ...
Feb. 9, 2026 A common iron mineral hiding in soil turns out to be far better at trapping carbon than scientists realized. Its surface isn’t uniform — it’s a nanoscale patchwork of positive and negative charges that can grab many different organic ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Researchers have found a surprising way to turn sunflower oil waste into a powerful bread upgrade. By replacing part of wheat flour with partially defatted sunflower seed flour, breads became dramatically richer in protein, fiber, and ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Tiny marine plankton that build calcium carbonate shells play an outsized role in regulating Earth’s climate, quietly pulling carbon from the atmosphere and helping lock it away in the deep ocean. New research shows these microscopic engineers are ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
Feb. 17, 2026 When tens of thousands of earthquakes shook Santorini, the cause wasn’t just shifting tectonic plates—it was rising magma. Scientists tracked about 300 million cubic meters of molten rock pushing ...
Feb. 10, 2026 Satellite imagery reveals how the 2026 Winter Olympics are spread across northern Italy, from alpine valleys to historic cities. Events are hosted in mountain resorts, while Milan and Verona frame ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Pumas returning to Patagonia have begun hunting mainland penguins that evolved without land predators. Scientists estimate that more than 7,000 adult penguins were killed in just four years, many of ...
Feb. 6, 2026 Arctic sea ice helps cool the planet and influences weather patterns around the world, but it is disappearing faster than ever as the climate warms. Scientists have now developed a new forecasting ...
Feb. 6, 2026 A new study reveals that chemicals used to replace ozone-damaging CFCs are now driving a surge in a persistent “forever chemical” worldwide. The pollutant, called trifluoroacetic acid, is falling ...
Feb. 5, 2026 Deep inside Earth, two massive hot rock structures have been quietly shaping the planet’s magnetic field for millions of years. Using ancient magnetic records and advanced simulations, scientists ...
Feb. 4, 2026 Melting ice from West Antarctica once delivered huge amounts of iron to the Southern Ocean, but algae growth did not increase as expected. Researchers found the iron was in a form that marine life ...
Feb. 3, 2026 Researchers have found that manganese, an abundant and inexpensive metal, can be used to efficiently convert carbon dioxide into formate, a potential hydrogen source for fuel cells. The key was a ...
Feb. 2, 2026 As demand for critical metals grows, scientists have taken a rare, close look at life on the deep Pacific seabed where mining may soon begin. Over five years and 160 days at sea, researchers ...
Feb. 2, 2026 SAR11 bacteria dominate the world’s oceans by being incredibly efficient, shedding genes to survive in nutrient-poor waters. But that extreme streamlining appears to backfire when conditions ...