Plants

In many parts of the world there may not be much precipitation, but there is a fair amount of water vapor in the air – particularly at night. An experimental new device draws in that vapor, then uses it to irrigate edible plants.

It may seem like a basic color, but blue is actually rather rare in the natural world. That complicates the search for natural blue food colorings, but now a team of scientists has found a promising candidate hiding in red cabbage.

It can be difficult for farmers to determine exactly when their crops need watering, or when they're getting infested with bugs or fungus. InnerPlant technology was created to help, by getting the plants to "glow" when they're in distress.

Would transparent solar cells installed in greenhouse roofs deprive plants of vital sunlight? To find out, researchers at North Carolina State University grew lettuce under various wavelengths of light, and found that the plants did just fine.

Scientists have made the surprising discovery of fossilized plants 1.4 km beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet. That indicates the island has been ice-free within the last million years – meaning it’s more vulnerable to climate change than we thought.

Plants are complex organisms that use electrical signals to sense and respond to their surroundings. New research shows how this might enable them to be used to pick up fragile objects, among other interesting possibilities.

In the event of a global catastrophe, how would we protect the wide variety of plants and animals on Earth? A team of researchers has now proposed a “Noah’s Ark” on the Moon that stores millions of samples of seeds, spores, sperm and eggs.

For many people, the beauty of spring is countered by the sneezing, runny nose and itchy eyes of allergies that come with warmer weather. For those people, science has some bad news – climate change may be making pollen season longer and more severe.

Scientists at the Salk Institute hope to tackle climate change and food security by unraveling the genomic architecture behind various plant species, and have gleaned some valuable new lessons from the fastest-growing example we know of.

Everyone already knows that compost made from food scraps helps plants to grow. Now, however, scientists have fermented food waste to create a liquid fertilizer that boosts the number of beneficial bacteria within the plants themselves, and in their soil.

As a seedling matures into a tree, its trunk and branches become stiffer and stronger. Scientists have now replicated this effect in a photosynthesis-assisted 3D-printing ink, made partially from spinach.

While pest insects can have a devastating effect on crops, pesticides can likewise cause a great deal of damage to the environment. That's where CropCoat comes in, as it's designed not to kill harmful insects, but to "hide" plants from them instead.