http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org)—Research by Indiana University paleobotanist David L. Dilcher and colleagues in Europe sheds new light on what Charles Darwin famously called "an abominable mystery": the apparently sudden appearance and rapid spread of flowering plants in the fossil record. http://phys.org/news274013257.html Biology Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:47:52 EST news274013257 Are juicier, sweeter, more disease-resistant watermelons on the way? An international consortium of more than 60 scientists from the United States, China, and Europe has published the genome sequence of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)—information that could dramatically accelerate watermelon breeding toward production of a more nutritious, tastier and more resistant fruit. The watermelon genome sequence was published in the Nov. 25 online version of the journal Nature Genetics. http://phys.org/news273158793.html Biology Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:26:40 EST news273158793 Researchers have reconstructed phylogenetic relationships among all 706 families of land plants. http://phys.org/news252832505.html Biology Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:16:00 EST news252832505 Researchers have discovered that an evolutionary change from 65 million years ago may have set the pace for the rapid growth rate of present-day flowering plants. http://phys.org/news224237035.html Other Sciences Tue, 10 May 2011 09:04:57 EST news224237035 A description of a 95-million-year-old amber deposit—the first major discovery of its kind from the African continent—is adding new fungus, insects, spiders, nematodes, and even bacteria to an ecosystem that had been shared by dinosaurs. In addition, the amber deposit may provide fresh insights into the rise and diversification of flowering plants during the Cretaceous. The new paper, published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reconstructs an ancient tropical forest uncovered in present-day Ethiopia and is the work of an international team of 20 scientists. http://phys.org/news189695597.html Biology Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:00:01 EST news189695597 Fossils and their surrounding matrix can provide insights into what our world looked like millions of years ago. Fossils of angiosperms, or flowering plants (which are the most common plants today), first appear in the fossil record about 140 million years ago. Based on the material in which these fossils are deposited, it is thought that early angiosperms must have been weedy, fast-growing shrubs and herbs found in highly disturbed riparian stream channels and crevasses. http://phys.org/news188554851.html Biology Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:30:01 EST news188554851 Flowering plants may be considerably older than previously thought, says a new analysis of the plant family tree. http://phys.org/news187879025.html Biology Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:00:10 EST news187879025