Tag Archives: plants

Gouging a mine into the Earth is so 1924. In 2024, scientists are figuring out how to mine with plants, known as phytomining. Of the 350,000 known plant species, just 750 are “hyperaccumulators” that readily absorb sky-high amounts of metals and incorporate them into their tissues. Grow a bunch of …

Consider the possibility of alien plants. After all, plenty of exoplanets likely have conditions friendly to the development of plants, even if evolution there never makes it as far as complex organisms and animals. But if moss, algae, and lichen envelop lush exoplanets in the faraway realms of the Milky …

This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Parasitic, elusive, and emitting an overwhelming odor of putrefying flesh, Rafflesia—often called the corpse flower—has intrigued botanists for centuries. Now, scientists are warning that it is at risk of extinction and calling for action to …

For Karen Sarkisyan, there are few things more awe-inspiring than a dark room full of glowing petunias. He wants more people to experience that magic and envisions a future lush with bioluminescent plants, like in the 2009 movie Avatar. “I think there’s just a sense of intrinsic excitement about things …