It is well known that some species of frogs tap their posterior toes as they are seeking prey; this can be seen in many videos posted online. However, only a few studies to date have looked at the tapping habit itself, and ...
Plants have a symbiotic relationship with their surrounding environment, being a vital indicator of the overall health of the landscape, as well as significant changes within it. One such driver of plant response is gas emissions, ...
Grass is cut regularly by our mowers and grazed on by cows and sheep, yet continues to grow back. The secret to its remarkable regenerative powers lies in part in the shape of its leaves, but how that shape arises has been ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 9, 2021
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892
The secret recipe nature uses to make the diverse leaf shapes we see everywhere around us has been revealed in research.
Plants & Animals
Nov 21, 2019
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306
Synthetic microspheres with nanoscale holes can absorb light from all directions across a wide range of frequencies, making them a candidate for antireflective coatings, according to a team of Penn State engineers. The synthetic ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 3, 2017
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364
Many geckos inhabit trees, often living high in the canopy. Relying on their incredible adhesive strength to help them break their fall, they jump from trees, and land on either leaves or relatively smooth tree trunks. How ...
Materials Science
Jun 27, 2017
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98
A computer program that learns and can categorize leaves into large evolutionary categories such as plant families will lead to greatly improved fossil identification and a better understanding of flowering plant evolution, ...
Computer Sciences
Mar 7, 2016
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18
Scientists at the University of Maryland have a new recipe for batteries: Bake a leaf, and add sodium. They used a carbonized oak leaf, pumped full of sodium, as a demonstration battery's negative terminal, or anode, according ...
Energy & Green Tech
Jan 28, 2016
0
358
A new class of superhydrophobic nanomaterials might simplify the process of protecting surfaces from water.
Nanomaterials
Dec 10, 2015
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1450
Generating and storing renewable energy, such as solar or wind power, is a key barrier to a clean-energy economy. When the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) was established at Caltech and its partnering institutions ...
Materials Science
Aug 28, 2015
8
2361
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants.
Typically a leaf is a thin, flattened organ borne above ground and specialized for photosynthesis, but many types of leaves are adapted in ways almost unrecognisable in those terms: not flat (such as many succulent leaves and conifers), not above ground (such as bulb scales), or without photosynthetic function (consider for example cataphylls, spines, and cotyledons).
Conversely, many structures of non-vascular plants, or even of some lichens, do look and function much like leaves. Several structures found in vascular plants look like leaves but have different structures; examples include phyllodes and phylloclades.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
