China was preparing to launch a ground-breaking mission early Saturday to soft-land a spacecraft on the largely unexplored far side of the moon, demonstrating its growing ambitions as a space power to rival Russia, the European ...
Space Exploration
Dec 7, 2018
2
577
Different subpopulations of a plant species can have distinct traits, varying in size, seed count, coloration, and so on. The primary source of this variation is genes: different versions of a gene can lead to different traits. ...
Biotechnology
Nov 20, 2018
0
20
From elongated oblongs to near-perfect spheres, vegetables come in almost every size and shape. But what differentiates a fingerling potato from a russet or a Roma tomato from a beefsteak? Researchers at the University of ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 12, 2018
0
175
Epigenetic changes can bring about new traits without altering the sequence of genes. This may allow plants to respond quicker to changes in their environment. Plant biologists at the University of Zurich have now demonstrated ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 8, 2018
0
13
In paper published today in Nature Plants, researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, detail for the first time the scale of threatened species that are unable to be conserved in seed banks. The paper reveals that when ...
Ecology
Nov 2, 2018
1
734
Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, together with the University of Osnabrück in Germany, have discovered that a fascinating plant employs two mechanisms to survive, no matter where it grows.
Ecology
Oct 26, 2018
3
95
A team of researchers from Germany, Madagascar and the U.S. has found evidence that suggests fruit-bearing plants have evolved to produce fruit that communicates ripeness with a particular smell that attracts the animals ...
The MFT gene stops seeds germinating in the dark or under shady conditions, where their chances of survival would be poor, according to new research from the University of York.
Ecology
Aug 7, 2018
0
150
Annual killifish are known to live their lives at one of two speeds: "pause" or "fast-forward." For most of the year, the tiny freshwater fish persist as diapausing embryos buried in sediments across the African savannah, ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 6, 2018
1
404
Though mostly rooted in the ground, plants have a number of innovative ways to disperse their seeds and get on with the business of propagation. They drop seeds or release them to the wind. Or they fling seeds with a dramatic ...
Ecology
Jun 17, 2018
0
109
