https://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. Despite the importance and dominance of angiosperms ("flowering plants") in the current ecosystem, it is rather surprising that we know so little about their origin and early evolution. Paleobotanists have been making efforts to decipher these enigmas. Unfortunately, their efforts are characterized by an "unbroken record of failure," as Tom Harris put it. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-permian-fossil-reveal-oldest.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 31 Aug 2026 17:00:01 EDT news707392802 Imagine the Western Plains of North America, from Texas to Alaska, submerged under a broad, shallow seaway. To the west lay the ancestral Rocky Mountains. To the east were low-lying plains traversed by large, sluggish rivers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-rare-dinosaur-tracks-coniacian-age.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:00:05 EDT news706968249 For the first time, a group of biologists and engineers from the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil applied LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology to investigate the health of trees and optimize pruning with the aim of reducing the risk of trees falling. This laser-sensing technology creates a "point cloud," a kind of 3D digital mold consisting of millions of coordinates that reproduces the plant's exact architecture in a computer. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-laser-scanning-urban-trees-falling.html Ecology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:40:06 EDT news705168361 A unique cache of plant fossils from volcanic deposits in New Mexico contradicts the common narrative that flowering plants were minor players in Earth's forests until dinosaurs disappeared 66 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-fossils-upend-catastrophist-narrative-flourished.html Evolution Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:11 EDT news701590742 A new study published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society describes, for the first time in detail, the soft tissues preserved in Montsecosuchus depereti, a Lower Cretaceous crocodylomorph from the Pedrera de Meià site in the province of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain). The analysis, based on ultraviolet light, provides new clues to the coloration of these animals, as well as the evolution of the respiratory system. The research was led by the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-skin-pattern-million-year-crocodile.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:20:06 EDT news700909742 Scientists who study plant physiology and evolution have a new tool in their toolkit: a machine learning algorithm that can scan digital plant specimen collections and quickly measure leaf size and thickness. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-reveals-digital-tools-biodiversity-crisis.html Ecology Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:20:03 EDT news700833967 In a new study published in the journal Science, researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, ZSL (Zoological Society of London) and their international collaborators including Boise State University present the first global assessment of risk to the angiosperm (flowering plants) tree of life, warning that more than a fifth of all angiosperm evolutionary history is at risk of extinction. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-evolutionary-history-extinction-experts.html Evolution Fri, 08 May 2026 09:20:01 EDT news697448101 In efforts to better understand how plant photosynthesis is regulated, scientists are studying how Rubisco activity responds to light. In a new meta-analysis study, a team from the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project at Lancaster University have identified a potential link between photosynthetic pathway type and rates of dark inhibition. The findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Botany. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-photosynthetic-pathway-rubisco-dark-inhibition.html Plants & Animals Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:40:01 EDT news695486282 For decades, scientists have relied on tree rings to estimate how long trees can live. But new research suggests that this widely used method may have been underestimating the lifespan of many flowering trees—sometimes by centuries. A new international study published in Radiocarbon shows that radiocarbon dating can dramatically extend the known maximum age of broadleaved trees, revealing that many species live far longer than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-radiocarbon-dating-rewrites-angiosperm-trees.html Plants & Animals Tue, 03 Mar 2026 19:40:05 EST news691776283 Angiosperms, also known as flowering plants, represent the most diverse group of seed plants, and their origin and evolution have long been a central question in plant evolutionary biology. Whole-genome duplication (WGD), or polyploidization, is widely recognized as a key driver of the origin and trait evolution of both seed plants and angiosperms. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-dosage-sensitive-genes-genome-duplications.html Evolution Fri, 02 Jan 2026 14:00:08 EST news686578691 As global temperatures rise, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists work to grow stronger, more resilient crops. Yet, this process is challenging. Plants often have several related genes that control desirable traits, such as size or drought resistance. Finding genes with overlapping functions, or "redundant genes," is a near-impossible scavenger hunt. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ai-gene-redundancies-crop.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 08 Dec 2025 12:28:24 EST news684419281 A research team led by Prof. Liu Xuncheng from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently published a study in the journal Plant Communications that sheds new light on the pathways that drive light-induced seed germination in plants. The findings identify a positive regulatory role for the KNOX-type transcription factor BP/KNAT1 in Arabidopsis and delineate its interplay with light-sensing proteins and hormone metabolism. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-uncover-molecular-mechanism-seed-germination.html Plants & Animals Wed, 10 Sep 2025 16:25:19 EDT news676740309 For many plants, spring is just a really good time. They have endured a cold, dark, hard winter and in some places, winters can be murderously tough for plants. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-botanist.html Plants & Animals Tue, 09 Sep 2025 10:22:05 EDT news676632122 A research team led by Prof. Huang Diying from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has identified three species of Jurassic orthopterans—an insect group that includes grasshoppers, crickets and katydids—with forewing patterns nearly identical to the leaves of bennettitales, an extinct, cycad-like seed plant. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-jurassic-insects-leaf-wings-china.html Evolution Fri, 05 Sep 2025 13:41:04 EDT news676298462 The uplift and outward growth of Asia's three great plateaus is a major driver of changes in the Asian landscape and biodiversity, according to a new study led by Prof. Wang Wei from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS). https://phys.org/news/2025-08-asian-plateaus-uplift-climate-shifts.html Earth Sciences Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:45:40 EDT news675510337 The first time I saw the Ada Tree, I felt tiny. It was October 2015, just days after arriving in Victoria to study mountain ash forests. During a visit to the Central Highlands, we went to see the Ada Tree—one of the largest mountain ash specimens, standing 76 meters tall (equivalent to a 20-story building), with a trunk 5 meters wide. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-giants-australian-forest.html Plants & Animals Thu, 21 Aug 2025 12:16:21 EDT news674997371 Heat-stressed Victorian mountain ash forests are thinning fast, turning from carbon sinks to carbon sources, new research reveals. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-stressed-australian-forests-thinning-fast.html Earth Sciences Thu, 21 Aug 2025 11:27:04 EDT news674994421 The endangered South African cycad Encephalartos horridus may resemble a relic from the Jurassic age, but the species itself evolved long after dinosaurs disappeared. Still, it carries a biochemical legacy inherited from its distant ancestors—plants that once thrived alongside Jurassic fauna. A team led by Hiroshima University (HU) researchers found that its spiky, silvery-blue leaves owe their color not to pigment, but to a wax-based optical effect produced by a lipid compound that may date back to the dawn of land plants. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-rare-cycad-wax-crystals-conjure.html Plants & Animals Fri, 08 Aug 2025 11:15:32 EDT news673870526 Plant fossils found in the abdomen of a sauropod support the long-standing hypothesis that these dinosaurs were herbivores, finds a study published in Current Biology. The dinosaur, which was alive an estimated 94 to 101 million years ago, ate a variety of plants and relied almost entirely on its gut microbes for digestion. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-fossilized-dinosaur-gut-sauropods.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:00:06 EDT news668417281 They are very tiny, but they are a key source of information when it comes to Earth's evolutionary history: pollen grains are usually no larger than 20 micrometers, or 0.02 millimeters. Using these tiny particles, a research team at Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) and the University of Bonn has managed to pinpoint the earliest emergence of flowering plants, so-called angiosperms, much more precisely. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-blooming-earth-million-years-pollen.html Plants & Animals Tue, 20 May 2025 13:30:04 EDT news666966602 A wild ginger has a clever trick up its sleeve to lure in pollinators. No, it's not a sweet fragrance that fills the air, but the foul stench of rotting flesh and dung. To attract carrion-loving flies and beetles, the flowers of the plant genus Asarum brew a malodorous chemical called dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) with the help of a disulfide synthase (DSS)—an enzyme derived from another enzyme, methanethiol oxidase (MTOX), found in both animals and plants. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-gene-mutations-mimic-foul-odor.html Evolution Mon, 12 May 2025 09:02:53 EDT news666259362 A joint research team has discovered a fossil belonging to a previously unknown genus and species of mammal in the Late Cretaceous (100–66 million-year-old) strata of Mongolia's Gobi Desert. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-fossil-mammal-species-age-dinosaurs.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 29 Apr 2025 02:22:23 EDT news665112138 A research group led by Nagoya University in Japan has discovered a new tissue in plants that is essential for seed formation. Their discovery represents the first new plant tissue discovered in 160 years. Their findings open a new field for research and have already demonstrated practical applications, with the team increasing yields of important crops, including rice. The journal Current Biology published the study. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-tissue-years-boosts-crop-yields.html Plants & Animals Thu, 10 Apr 2025 09:45:03 EDT news663497101 More mammals were living on the ground several million years before the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, new research led by the University of Bristol has revealed. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-mammals-life-trees-ground-dinosaur.html Evolution Tue, 01 Apr 2025 20:00:01 EDT news662715781 Whether it is flowers sprouting in the spring, cicadas mating in the blistering heat of summer, or caterpillars hatching to feed on their favorite host plant, across the natural world, the timing of biological events is so important it spawned its own scientific discipline: phenology. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-yucca-moth-extreme-weather-impacts.html Plants & Animals Thu, 06 Mar 2025 10:15:05 EST news660478501 Picture a primordial Earth: a world of muted browns, grays and greens. Fast forward to today, and Earth teems with a kaleidoscope of colors. From the stunning feathers of male peacocks to the vivid blooms of flowers, the story of how Earth became colorful is one of evolution. But how and why did this explosion of color happen? Recent research is giving us clues into this part of Earth's narrative. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-life-evolve.html Evolution Mon, 17 Feb 2025 13:19:09 EST news659020741 A team of Chinese scientists has used targeted gene editing to develop rice that produces coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a vital compound for human health. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-gene-rice-compound-vital-human.html Biotechnology Fri, 14 Feb 2025 12:30:01 EST news658758207 A research team has achieved a gapless assembly of Syntrichia caninervis's genome, totaling 323.44 Mbp with an N50 value of 24.41 Mbp and a single-base accuracy exceeding 99.999%, making it the highest-quality moss genome reported to date. This work is published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-highest-quality-moss-genome-date.html Plants & Animals Tue, 11 Feb 2025 15:57:03 EST news658511821 As the festive season approaches, evergreen conifers like spruce and pine adorn homes worldwide. But while Christmas trees bring warmth and joy into our lives, they endure some of the harshest conditions on Earth in their natural habitats. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-science-christmas-trees-conifers-brave.html Plants & Animals Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:40:03 EST news653913601 In 1969, fossilized leaves of the species Othniophyton elongatum—which translates to "alien plant"—were identified in eastern Utah. Initially, scientists theorized the extinct species may have belonged to the ginseng family (Araliaceae). However, a case once closed is now being revisited. New fossil specimens show that Othniophyton elongatum is even stranger than scientists first thought. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-mysterious-fossil-family-longer.html Plants & Animals Tue, 17 Dec 2024 14:25:31 EST news653667926