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Category: Plants

By The Generalist Posted on February 3, 2022February 2, 2022

Dancing plant

The leaves of Codariocalyx motorius move fast enough that you can see their motion. This plant likes to dance.

Categories: East Asia, Plants, South Asia, Southeast Asia
By The Generalist Posted on December 22, 2021December 20, 2021

Unique bacteria

One variety of bacteria has only ever been isolated from the wreck of the RMS Titanic; another type of bacteria has only ever been found inside clean rooms used to assemble spacecraft.

Categories: Animals, Plants, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on October 29, 2021October 28, 2021

The origin of green

A billion years ago or longer, a photosynthesising bacterium found its way into a proto-plant cell. The bacteria and the cell became symbiotic, each helping the other to survive and thrive. All land plants today are descended from that chance meeting.

Categories: Animals, Plants
By The Generalist Posted on October 11, 2021October 9, 2021

The blob from the stars

The 1958 horror film The Blob was inspired by a real event in 1950: a close encounter between four police officers and a star jelly.

Categories: Animals, Film & television, Plants
By The Generalist Posted on September 23, 2021September 22, 2021

Da Vinci’s fractal trees

Leonardo da Vinci observed that tree branches together are always as thick as the trunk beneath them. This is true, and there are some good ideas why.

Categories: Art, Europe, Mathematics & statistics, Physics & chemistry, Plants
By The Generalist Posted on September 15, 2021September 14, 2021

The ant in the devil’s garden

Within the extraordinary biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest lie circles of a single tree species – the devil’s gardens. And these pockets of uniformity are created by ants.

Categories: Animals, Plants, South America
By The Generalist Posted on July 1, 2021June 30, 2021

Dragon blood island

Socotra, the alien island wedged between the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, is home to the dragon blood tree: a source of dye, paint, medicine, varnish, and magic.

Categories: Ancient history, Health & medicine, Middle East, Plants
By The Generalist Posted on June 4, 2021June 3, 2021

Orangutan nests

Orangutans, like all great apes, build nests. Sometimes these include pillows, blankets, and bunk beds.

Categories: Animals, Plants
By The Generalist Posted on May 13, 2021May 12, 2021

The Church of One Tree

The Church of One Tree in Santa Rosa, California, was built in 1873 out of a single giant redwood tree.

Categories: 19th century history, 20th century history, Architecture, North & Central America, Plants, Religion & belief
By The Generalist Posted on March 24, 2021October 10, 2021

Turnip-mustard-cabbage triangle

Turnips, black mustard, and cabbage together form a triangle of multi-chromosome hybrids: it’s where we get Indian mustard, Ethiopian mustard, and canola.

Categories: Food & agriculture, Plants, Sciences
By The Generalist Posted on February 21, 2021April 17, 2021

Biblical and Shakespeare gardens

Some gardens grow only the plants mentioned in either the Bible or the works of Shakespeare.

Categories: Arts, Food & agriculture, Literature, Plants, Religion & belief, Sciences
By The Generalist Posted on February 14, 2021April 17, 2021

Oldest rose

The oldest living rose bush has been growing on the side of Hildesheim Cathedral for several hundred years.

Categories: Europe, History, Medieval history, Places, Plants, Sciences
Basmati
By The Generalist Posted on September 27, 2020April 28, 2021

Thwarting the biopirates

India prevented people patenting their foods, traditional medicines, and yoga poses by recording them all in an online database: 34 million pages’ worth.

Categories: Animals, Economics & business, Food & agriculture, Health & medicine, Places, Plants, Politics & law, Sciences, South Asia, Technology
Hitchhiking
By The Generalist Posted on August 16, 2020April 17, 2021

Genetic hitchhikers

A mutated gene that improves reproductive success spreads widely – this is one of the principles of evolution. But sometimes other genes come along for the ride.

Categories: Animals, Health & medicine, Plants, Sciences
Miller-Urey experiment
By The Generalist Posted on August 5, 2020April 17, 2021

The origin of life revisited

The 1952 Miller-Urey experiment synthesised amino acids essential to life from inorganic materials. The experiment’s vials were then sealed, and when scientists re-examined them 55 years later they were surprised at what was inside.

Categories: Animals, Physics & chemistry, Plants, Sciences
Guarana
By The Generalist Posted on July 23, 2020April 17, 2021

Guarana and bullet ants

What do bullet ants and guarana have in common? The Sateré-Mawé people of Brazil.

Categories: Animals, Food & agriculture, Places, Plants, Sciences, South America

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