Tree

High-profile British firm Heatherwick Studio has created a large tree-covered sculpture for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebration. The art installation hosts a total of 350 trees, which are arranged into the shape of a single large tree.

Looking at big, mature trees, you may not think that their trunks sway much in the wind. They do to a certain extent, however … enough so that electronic measurement of the swaying motion can be used to monitor their growth cycles.

Wood is becoming an increasingly popular building material, but the timber is harvested mainly just from the long, straight trunks of trees. Aiming to reduce waste, an MIT team has developed a method of also using a tree's load-bearing junctions.

Stefano Boeri Architetti's Easyhome Huanggang Vertical Forest City Complex in central China includes two residential towers covered in thousands of trees and plants. The firm claims that the greenery absorbs significant amounts of CO2 from the air.

Even with today's various sewage-treatment technologies, a great deal of municipal wastewater is still released back into waterways either partially or completely untreated. According to a new study, however, plots of willow trees could be used to clean it up – while also producing useful materials.

According to Germany's University of Hohenheim, about 80 percent of the fruit trees in that country aren't pruned – despite the fact that doing so makes them more resistant to disease. That's why the university is creating a robot to do the job.

Of all the things that merit a high-tech makeover, you would think that the humble bird-nesting box didn't need one. A new 3D-printed version, however, could go a long way towards restoring threatened species in the Australian wilderness.

As the population increasingly moves towards tech jobs, there's now a shortage of coconut harvesters in India. That's why scientists there have built a tree-climbing coconut-harvesting robot, that could perhaps someday take up the slack.

A new study has determined that Earth’s forests are transforming in response to a combination of human actions and natural processes such as wildfires, causing them to lose their oldest trees and grow shorter.

Responsible for millions of dollars in crop losses annually, the red palm weevil is a flying beetle that lays its eggs inside date palm trees. It could soon be possible to detect such infestations earlier than ever, using fiber optic cables.

One argued silver lining of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is that plants will be better off. But a new study has found that the more extreme heat and drought brought on by climate change would cancel out most of the benefits for trees.

Ikea offers another example of the greenery-covered architecture trend with its recently-revealed store planned for Austria. A departure from the bland warehouses often associated with the furniture giant, it will be covered in around 160 trees.