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Plants

Autumn near Killington, Vermont

See Where Brilliant Fall Foliage Will Peak Across the Country in This Map

An interactive map predicts when the orange, red and yellow hues of autumn will brighten up the countryside

Parasitic dodders use outgrowths called haustoria to leech water and nutrients from their host plants.

New Research

Parasitic Plant Waits for Host’s Signal Before Flowering

Dodders grow into tangled masses of leafless tendrils also called wizard’s net and strangleweed

A unique moss species thrives underneath translucent quartz rocks in the hot, dry Mojave Desert while its neighbors shrivel.

New Research

Desert Moss Beats Heat by Growing Under Quartz Crystals

Researchers find the translucent rocks keep the moss moist while letting just enough light pass through its milky interior

Chokushi-Mon (Gateway of the Imperial Messenger) and the Japanese Gardens

Travel the World in a Day at Kew Gardens

A new exhibition at the British botanic garden brings the landscapes of ten countries and regions across six continents to visitors

The newly discovered banana cultivation site

Cool Finds

Traces of 2,000-Year-Old Banana Farm Found in Australia

The discovery contradicts conceptions of early Indigenous peoples as exclusively hunter gatherers

Viburnum titus is a common landscaping plant in Europe and the United States, but its blue fruits hadn't been closely studied until now.

New Research

Structural Complexity Gives This Fruit Its Metallic Blue Color

The super blue viburnum fruit gets its hue not just from blue pigment, but from the structure of its fat

Two packages of unidentified seeds that arrived, unsolicited in the mailboxes of Washington State residents. Packaging appeared to indicate that the seeds originated in China.

Americans Plant Mysterious Seeds Despite Government Warnings

The USDA urges people not to plant unsolicited seeds they receive. Evidence suggests the packages are part of a scam designed to boost online sales

A plant press used by researchers in the Hengduan Mountains

How Ancient Monsoons and Tectonic Shifts Shaped This Flowering Mountain Hotspot

The stunning biodiversity of alpine plants in China’s Hengduan Mountains can be traced back 30 million years, according to a new study

Frans Snyders' Fruit Stall features a vast spread of produce from the 17th century.

Art Meets Science

Centuries-Old Paintings Help Researchers Track Food Evolution

Art inadvertently documents the domestication of carrots, wheat, watermelon and other culinary delights

Researchers used these five replica clay pipes to "smoke" tobacco and other native plants.

Early Residents of the Pacific Northwest Smoked Smooth Sumac

Researchers used a new technique to detect the chemical fingerprints of specific plant species in a 1,400-year-old pipe’s residue

Following the Monday performance, the Barcelona opera house donated its 2,292 houseplants to local health care workers.

Covid-19

Audience of Plants Roots for Barcelona Opera House on Opening Night

The leafy crowd enjoyed a string quartet’s performance of Puccini’s “Crisantemi”

Monitor local animal populations, identify plants, transcribe women astronomers' notes, bird-watch and more.

Education During Coronavirus

Seventy-Five Scientific Research Projects You Can Contribute to Online

From astrophysicists to entomologists, many researchers need the help of citizen scientists to sift through immense data collections

Glacier mice are balls of moss found in parts of Alaska and Iceland.

New Research

Herds of Moss Balls Mysteriously Roam the Arctic Together

The moss isn’t propelled by a slope, the wind, or the sun, but the group moves in sync

A new study has mapped green algae blooms, like the one pictured here, on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Algae Blooms Turn Antarctica’s Ice Green

Scientists predict that the organisms’ presence will increase as global temperatures increase

Through the Manta Trust's adoption program, donors can choose to adopt any one of a number of frequently sighted manta rays in the Maldives.

Virtual Travel

Ten Animals and Plants Around the World That You Can (Virtually) Adopt

While COVID-19 stymies travel, help conserve those things—from cacti to manta rays—that will beckon you later

Folium was used to illustrate illuminated manuscripts—and color the rind of a popular Dutch cheese.

Art Meets Science

Researchers Follow a 15th-Century Recipe to Recreate Medieval Blue Ink

The purplish-blue pigment, derived from a Portuguese fruit, fell out of use by the 19th century

Farm workers loading apples onto a truck in an orchard, circa 1965.

Cool Finds

Ten Apple Varieties Once Thought Extinct Rediscovered in Pacific Northwest

The “lost” apples will help restore genetic, culinary diversity to a crop North America once produced in astonishing variety

Delicate blossoms might get knocked down, but they get up again.

New Research

How Flowers Marvelously Evolved Resilience

Blossoms contort and twist back into optimal pollination position after getting bumped and battered

Arches made of yellow orchids as seen at the New York Botanical Garden.

Virtual Travel

Watch These Six Flower Bloom Events From Your Couch

Tulips, cherry blossoms and orchids supply a ray of hope during self-isolation

The tobacco mosaic virus seen under 160,000× magnification

Covid-19

How a Few Sick Tobacco Plants Led Scientists to Unravel the Truth About Viruses

With the COVID-19 coronavirus causing a global pandemic, a look back at the scientists who figured out viruses and their relationship to disease

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