The first human-induced extinction documented in the historical record wasn’t the passenger pigeon. It was a little plant with yellow flowers. However, this little herb may have pulled a coelacanth: scientists in Greece claim that it’s been still around after all, growing on a hillside in Turkey. Most people who Read more…
This Tuesday, scientists from the American Geophysical Union announced in that adding pulverized volcanic rock to farmed fields could increase carbon sequestration to within the IPCC’s recommended levels by 2080 while also improving soil quality. The process is called enhanced rock weathering. Precipitation absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, rendering Read more…
In findings published today in Current Biology, scientists from the University of California, Riverside report that plants’ relationships with their nitrogen-fixing rhizobacteria are far more complex than previously realized, or rather, the relationships among those bacteria complicate them. The research team infected initially bacteria-free Acmispon strigosus with eight different strains Read more…
The world’s farmers are now free to purchase and grow a new type of rice—a perennial. The strain, called PR23, is the culmination of over fifteen years of work. Unlike annual strains, perennial plants do not have to be replanted every year. But findings published this week in Nature Sustainability Read more…