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Natural sunbeams underwater through water surface in the Mediterranean sea on a seabed with neptune grass, Catalonia, Roses, Costa Brava, Spain
Marine Plant Partners with Microbes Like Terrestrial Plants Do
A seagrass relies on symbiotic bacteria inside its roots to fix nitrogen. This is the first time scientists have demonstrated that this relationship occurs in a marine plant.
Marine Plant Partners with Microbes Like Terrestrial Plants Do
Marine Plant Partners with Microbes Like Terrestrial Plants Do

A seagrass relies on symbiotic bacteria inside its roots to fix nitrogen. This is the first time scientists have demonstrated that this relationship occurs in a marine plant.

A seagrass relies on symbiotic bacteria inside its roots to fix nitrogen. This is the first time scientists have demonstrated that this relationship occurs in a marine plant.

plant biology

Infographic showing how a new bacteria species called <em>Candidatus Celerinatantimonas neptuna</em> lives in seagrass and how it provides the plant with nitrogen
Infographic: Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria Live Inside Seagrass Roots
Rachael Moeller Gorman | Mar 14, 2022 | 1 min read
Researchers can now explain how some marine plants obtain their nitrogen.
outside view of flooded research greenhouses
Flooding and Storms Wreak Havoc for Australian Scientists
Bianca Nogrady | Mar 4, 2022 | 4 min read
Record-breaking rainfall has caused widespread flooding and devastation in Queensland and New South Wales, forcing the closure of some university campuses.
Man in personal protective equipment (glasses, gloves, cap, and coat) watching plants go through a piece of machinery.
Canada Approves World’s First Plant-Based COVID-19 Vaccine
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Feb 25, 2022 | 2 min read
Canada has ordered 76 million doses of Covifenz, the main ingredient of which was manufactured in the leaves of a tobacco relative.
Sunflowers, in visible spectrum on left half (yellow colors) and UV spectrum on right half (purple and white colors).
Sunflowers’ Bee-Attracting Ultraviolet Also Helps Retain Moisture
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Feb 8, 2022 | 5 min read
The dual purposes of the plants’ hidden colors may conflict as the climate warms, authors of a new study suggest.
Single white snowdrop flower
Plants in UK Bloom a Month Earlier Than in 1980s: Study
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Feb 2, 2022 | 2 min read
Scientists warn that climate change–induced early flowering could have negative effects on wildlife, agriculture, and gardening.
A fresh, peeled lychee fruit held above a harvest of fresh lychees
Genome Spotlight: Lychee (Litchi chinensis)
Christie Wilcox, PhD | Jan 27, 2022 | 3 min read
Whole genome sequences reveal multiple domestications of this agriculturally important tree and may hold the secrets to producing the sweet fruit year round.
Formed of various flowers, this personification cartoon of a female botanist, painted by George Spratt, was pasted into Allen’s copy of The English Flora.
La Botaniste, 1810–1865
Sukanya Charuchandra | Jan 4, 2022 | 2 min read
Elaborate annotations hidden in a copy of Sir James Edward Smith’s The English Flora hinted at the life of a mysterious woman botanist.
collage of images related to favorite stories, including black and white photo of flowers, illustration of two rats, human body with floating coronaviruses
The Scientist Editors’ Favorite Stories of 2021
The Scientist Staff | Dec 28, 2021 | 5 min read
A look back at some of the articles we most enjoyed reading, writing, and editing this year
Invasive <em>Phragmites australis</em> in North Carolina's Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge
Genome Spotlight: Common Reed (Phragmites australis)
Christie Wilcox, PhD | Dec 23, 2021 | 3 min read
The first reference-quality genome for this grass species could aid managers in understanding and eradicating this highly invasive plant.
Photograph looking up a tree trunk
Contrary to Common Belief, Some Older Trees Make Fewer Seeds
Annie Melchor | Nov 1, 2021 | 2 min read
An analysis of more than half a million trees reveals that many species begin to taper off seed production once they hit a certain size.
Arabidopsis thaliana flowers
Plants Use RNA to Talk to Neighbors
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Oct 21, 2021 | 4 min read
A study finds that plants sharing the same growth medium can exchange microRNAs that silence genes in the recipient, suggesting the nucleic acids may act as signaling molecules.
Plant cryptospore fossil found in 480 million-year-old Australian rock
Discovered: Fossilized Spores Suggestive of Early Land Plants
Ruth Williams | Aug 12, 2021 | 3 min read
Spores found in 480 million-year-old rock bring the fossil record in line with molecular estimates of when plants first adapted to life on land.
photograph of arabidopsis thaliana with a cantil on a black background
A Newly Found Organ for Arabidopsis
Kerry Grens | Jun 16, 2021 | 2 min read
Horizontal arms dubbed cantils only appear under certain growing conditions—perhaps explaining why they had not been identified before.
Yuan Longping standing out in a rice field
Hybrid Rice Developer Yuan Longping Dies at 90
Lisa Winter | May 26, 2021 | 2 min read
The high-yield variety of rice he produced in the 1970s prevented countless people from dying of starvation.
two tomato plants in pots viewed from the top, one scraggly with yellow leaves and one healthier-looking
Stress-Response Compound Widespread in Animals Is Found in Plants
Shawna Williams | May 22, 2021 | 4 min read
TMAO appears to both stabilize other plant proteins and influence the expression of stress-response genes, researchers report.
A scanning electron micrograph of the picozoan Picomonas judraskeda
Picozoans Are Algae After All: Study
Christie Wilcox, PhD | May 6, 2021 | 5 min read
Phylogenomics data place the enigmatic plankton in the middle of the algal family tree, despite their apparent lack of plastids—an organelle characteristic of all other algae.
a large, mossy cedar tree in a forest
Book Excerpt from Finding the Mother Tree
Suzanne Simard | May 1, 2021 | 4 min read
In the book’s introduction, “Connections,” Suzanne Simard relates how her “perception of the woods has been turned upside down.”
Aphid Salivary Gene May Regulate Gall Color
Asher Jones | May 1, 2021 | 2 min read
Whether the galls that aphids make on witch hazel leaves are red or green is associated with a gene expressed in the insects’ salivary glands.
different varieties of ground and unground coffee beans in bowls and plates on a table
Rediscovered Coffee Species Tastes Great, Tolerates Warmth: Study
Shawna Williams | Apr 20, 2021 | 2 min read
Cultivating stenophylla, untapped by the coffee industry for the last century, could help farmers cope with the effects of climate change, researchers suggest.
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