Botany News
October 9, 2025
Top Headlines
Oct. 8, 2025 — Kobe University researchers found that orchids rely on wood-decaying fungi to germinate, feeding on the carbon from rotting logs. Their seedlings only grow near deadwood, forming precise fungal partnerships that mirror those seen in adult orchids ...
Oct. 3, 2025 — Billions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was hostile, with barely any oxygen and toxic conditions for life. Researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute studied Japan’s iron-rich hot springs, which mimic the ancient oceans, to uncover how ...
Oct. 1, 2025 — Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years earlier than expected. These ancient fungi may have ...
Sep. 24, 2025 — Rice, a staple for billions, is one of the most resource-hungry crops on the planet—but scientists may have found a way to change that. By applying nanoscale selenium directly to rice plants, researchers dramatically improved nitrogen efficiency, ...
Sep. 16, 2025 — Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have cracked open the secrets of plant stem cells, mapping key genetic regulators in maize and Arabidopsis. By using single-cell RNA sequencing, they created a gene expression atlas that identifies rare ...
Sep. 15, 2025 — Volcanic eruptions on the remote island of Nishinoshima repeatedly wipe the land clean, giving scientists a rare chance to study life’s earliest stages. Researchers traced the genetic origins of an ...
Sep. 12, 2025 — Hidden within Arctic ice, diatoms are proving to be anything but dormant. New Stanford research shows these glass-walled algae glide through frozen channels at record-breaking subzero temperatures, powered by mucus-like ropes and molecular motors. ...
Sep. 9, 2025 — Plants are spreading across the globe faster than ever, largely due to human activity, and new research shows that the very same traits that make plants thrive in their native lands also drive their success abroad. A study of nearly 4,000 European ...
Sep. 9, 2025 — Tiny ocean microbes called Prochlorococcus, once thought to be climate survivors, may struggle as seas warm. These cyanobacteria drive 5% of Earth’s photosynthesis and underpin much of the marine food web. A decade of research shows they thrive ...
Sep. 9, 2025 — Orangutans, humans’ close evolutionary relatives, have developed remarkable strategies to survive in the unpredictable rainforests of Borneo. A Rutgers-led study reveals that these apes balance protein intake and adjust their activity to match ...
Sep. 8, 2025 — Tiny diatoms and their bacterial partners act as nature’s nutrient factories, fueling insects and salmon in California’s Eel River. Their pollution-free process could inspire breakthroughs in sustainable farming and ...
Aug. 23, 2025 — 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 ...
Latest Headlines
updated 1:51pm EDT
Sep. 30, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that pollen is a hidden source of natural medicine for honeybees. Symbiotic bacteria called Streptomyces produce antimicrobial compounds that fight deadly bee and plant ...
Sep. 27, 2025 — Scientists reclassified a long-misunderstood fossil from Brazil as a new genus, Franscinella riograndensis. Using advanced microscopy, they discovered spores preserved in situ—a rare find that ...
Sep. 25, 2025 — Vincetoxicum nakaianum tricks flies into pollinating it by imitating the smell of ants attacked by spiders. Ko Mochizuki stumbled upon this finding when he noticed flies clustering around the flowers ...
Sep. 14, 2025 — By analyzing tooth enamel chemistry, scientists uncovered proof that Jurassic dinosaurs divided up their meals in surprising ways—some choosing buds and leaves, others woody bark, and still others ...
Sep. 11, 2025 — Newly discovered fossils in Ethiopia show that Homo coexisted with Australopithecus 2.6 million years ago, rewriting the timeline of human evolution. Far from a straight line, early human history was ...
Sep. 1, 2025 — Young orangutans master the art of building intricate treetop nests not by instinct alone, but by closely watching their mothers and peers. Researchers tracking wild Sumatran orangutans over 17 years ...
Aug. 29, 2025 — Scientists have created glow-in-the-dark succulents that can recharge with sunlight and shine for hours, rivaling small night lights. Unlike costly and complex genetic engineering methods, this ...
Aug. 28, 2025 — In Taiwan’s forests, researchers discovered a clever hunting trick by the sheet web spider Psechrus clavis. Instead of immediately devouring captured fireflies, the spiders allow them to glow in ...
Aug. 27, 2025 — Bumble bees aren’t random foragers – they’re master nutritionists. Over an eight-year field study in the Colorado Rockies, scientists uncovered that different bee species strategically balance ...
Aug. 21, 2025 — 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 ...
Earlier Headlines
Aug. 15, 2025 — 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 ...
Aug. 2, 2025 — Long before evolution equipped them with the right teeth, early humans began eating tough grasses and starchy underground plants—foods rich in energy but hard to chew. A new study reveals that this ...
Aug. 1, 2025 — About 9 million years ago, a wild interspecies fling between tomato-like plants and potato relatives in South America gave rise to one of the world’s most important crops: the potato. Scientists ...
Aug. 1, 2025 — 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, ...
July 29, 2025 — In the quest to understand how and why early humans started walking on two legs, scientists are now looking to chimpanzees living in dry, open savannah-like environments for clues. A new study ...
July 30, 2025 — Scientists have used artificial intelligence to upgrade plant immune systems, potentially revolutionizing how crops like tomatoes and potatoes can defend against harmful bacteria. By reengineering ...
Aug. 9, 2025 — The newly described Mirasaura grauvogeli from the Middle Triassic had a striking feather-like crest, hinting that complex skin appendages arose far earlier than previously believed. Its bird-like ...
July 25, 2025 — 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 ...
July 16, 2025 — 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 ...
July 15, 2025 — High in Fiji s rainforest, the ant plant Squamellaria grows swollen tubers packed with sealed, single-door apartments. Rival ant species nest in these chambers, fertilizing their host with ...
July 11, 2025 — 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 ...
July 9, 2025 — 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 ...
July 8, 2025 — 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 ...
July 6, 2025 — 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 ...
July 7, 2025 — 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, ...
June 25, 2025 — 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 ...
June 24, 2025 — 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 ...
June 19, 2025 — 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 ...
June 17, 2025 — 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 ...
June 14, 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. ...
Friday, August 15, 2025
Saturday, August 2, 2025
Friday, August 1, 2025
- Scientists Just Solved the 9-Million-Year Mystery of Where Potatoes Came from
- Did Drunk Apes Help Us Evolve? New Clues Reveal Why We Digest Alcohol So Well
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Saturday, August 9, 2025
Friday, July 25, 2025
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Friday, July 11, 2025
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Monday, July 7, 2025
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
- What a Dinosaur Ate 100 Million Years ago—Preserved in a Fossilized Time Capsule
- How Madagascar’s Lizards Became the Island’s Last Hope for Reforestation
Friday, June 6, 2025
- Scientists Find Immune Molecule That Supercharges Plant Growth
- Scientists Uncover 230 Giant Ocean Viruses That Hijack Photosynthesis
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Monday, June 2, 2025
- Student Discovers Long-Awaited Mystery Fungus Sought by LSD's Inventor
- Human-Caused Dust Events Are Linked to Fallow Farmland
- Research Shows How Solar Arrays Can Aid Grasslands During Drought
Friday, May 30, 2025
- Scientists Find a New Way to Help Plants Fight Diseases
- The EU Should Allow Gene Editing to Make Organic Farming More Sustainable, Researchers Say
Thursday, May 29, 2025
- Rock Record Illuminates Oxygen History
- 'Future-Proofing' Crops Will Require Urgent, Consistent Effort
- Living Libraries Could Save Our Food
- Does Planting Trees Really Help Cool the Planet?
- Cannabis Pangenome Reveals Potential for Medicinal and Industrial Use
- Agriculture in Forests Can Provide Climate and Economic Dividends
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
- Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk
- Too Much of a Good Thing: Consequences of Overplanting Bt Corn in the US
- Synthetic Molecular Rings Re-Create Energy Flow Found in Plants
- New Velvet Worm Species a First for the Arid Karoo
- When the Forest Is No Longer a Home -- Forest Bats Seek Refuge in Settlements
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Monday, May 26, 2025
- A Root Development Gene That's Older Than Root Development
- Flowers Unfold With Surprising Precision, Despite Unruly Genes
Friday, May 23, 2025
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- New Study Reveals How Competition Between Algae Is Transforming the Gulf of Maine
- Scientists Have Figured out How Extinct Giant Ground Sloths Got So Big and Where It All Went Wrong
- Ox-Eye Daisy, Bellis and Yarrow: Flower Strips With at Least Two Sown Species Provide 70 Percent More Natural Enemies of Pests
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- Plant Cell Sculptors
- Can Plants Hear Their Pollinators?
- How Hibiscus Flowers Lost Their Bullseyes
- A New Technology for Extending the Shelf Life of Produce
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- On the Origin (and Fate) of Plants That Never Bloom
- Forest Management Can Influence Health Benefits
- Wild Spinach Offers Path to Breed Disease Resistance Into Cultivated Varieties
- Research Team Traces Evolutionary History of Bacterial Circadian Clock on Ancient Earth
Monday, May 19, 2025
- Bees Facing New Threats, Putting Our Survival and Theirs at Risk
- Cover Crops May Not Be Solution for Both Crop Yield, Carbon Sequestration
- First-of-Its-Kind Global Study Shows Grasslands Can Withstand Climate Extremes With a Boost of Nutrients
- Scientific Breakthrough: We Can Now Halve the Price of Costly Cancer Drug
- How Did Plants Evolve the Ability to Transport Massive Amounts of Protein Into Seed Vacuoles?
- Capuchin Monkeys Develop Bizarre 'fad' Of Abducting Baby Howlers
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Light-to-Electricity Nanodevice Reveals How Earth's Oldest Surviving Cyanobacteria Worked
- In Healthy Aging, Carb Quality Counts
Thursday, May 15, 2025
- School Dinners May Encourage Picky Teenagers to Eat Better, Says New Study
- Amazon Could Survive Long-Term Drought but at a High Cost
- Dual Associations With Two Fungi Improve Tree Fitness
- Human Activity Reduces Plant Diversity Hundreds of Kilometers Away
- Scientists Use Fossils to Assess the Health of Florida's Largest Remaining Seagrass Bed: Surprisingly, It's Doing Well!
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Artificial Intelligence and Genetics Can Help Farmers Grow Corn With Less Fertilizer
- Europe's Forest Plants Thrive Best in Light-Rich, Semi-Open Woodlands -- Kept Open by Large Herbivores
- Australia's Oldest Prehistoric Tree Frog Hops 22 Million Years Back in Time
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- With AI, Researchers Predict the Location of Virtually Any Protein Within a Human Cell
- Growth Before Photosynthesis: How Trees Regulate Their Water Balance
Monday, May 12, 2025
- Invasive Salmon, Clams and Seaweed Are Next Threats to Biodiversity in Britain
- Microbial 'phosphorus Gatekeeping' Found at Center of Study Exploring 700,000 Years of Iconic Coastline
Friday, May 9, 2025
Thursday, May 8, 2025
- Researchers Find New Defense Against Hard-to-Treat Plant Diseases
- Just 30 Species of Tree Dominate World's Most Diverse Savanna
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
- Biologists Create a One-Stop Shop for World's Most Charismatic Plants, Ferns
- Fewer Parasites in the Indian River Lagoon Signal Big Ecosystem Problems
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
- Replanted Rainforests May Benefit from Termite Transplants
- Food as Medicine: How Diet Shapes Gut Microbiome Health
- How Hunting Harriers Home in on Their Prey
Monday, May 5, 2025
- How Are They Biting? High Speed Video Reveals Unexpected Jaw Movements in Reef Fish
- A Fully Automated Tool for Species Tree Inference
- Vertical Farming to Increase Yields and Reduce Environmental Impact
- Artificial Oxygen Supply in Coastal Waters: A Hope With Risks
- Blue Tips Are Red Algae's Red Flags
Friday, May 2, 2025
- Traditional Forest Medicinal Plant Ghost Pipe Used Differently Today
- Loss of Sea Ice Alters the Colors of Light in the Ocean
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
- New Study Unlocks How Root Cells Sense and Adapt to Soil
- Bacterial Villain Behind Lake Erie's 'potent Toxin' Unveiled
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
- Forest in Sync: Spruce Trees May Communicate During a Solar Eclipse
- Will the Vegetables of the Future Be Fortified Using Tiny Needles?