Collaborate Disseminate
Imagine if in order to get apple juice, the whole tree had to be ground up, and then the juice had to be separated from everything else. Well, that’s kind of how things currently are with therapeutic plant extracts … but perhaps not for much longer, th… Continue reading Tiny harvester designed to draw chemicals straight from plant cells
Although we’ve already heard about plants that mimic the smell of rotten meat or feces in order to attract pollen-spreading scavengers, botanists have now discovered that a certain plant really focuses that concept – it mimics the smell of dead beetles… Continue reading Flower mimics the scent of dead beetles to draw in helpful flies
The company behind the Smart Herb Garden we reviewed back in 2014 has launched a new indoor garden on Kickstarter. The Click & Grow 25 system promises to grow “substantial amounts of greens for everyday use, without becoming a time-consuming hobby.”Con… Continue reading Click & Grow puts a veggie patch on your kitchen countertop
In a way, the magic of a soil moisture sensor’s functionality boils down to a simple RC circuit. But of course, in practice there is a bit more to it …read more Continue reading Soil Moisture Sensors, How Do They Work?
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.Continue ReadingCategor… Continue reading Self-contained SmartFarm grows plants using water drawn from the air
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.Continue ReadingCateg… Continue reading Natural brilliant blue food coloring wrung out of 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.Continue Read… Continue reading High-tech crops designed to glow when they need help
Advances in transparent solar cells mean that soon we might be able to install them into windows and greenhouses. But in the latter case, would they deprive plants of vital sunlight? To find out, researchers at North Carolina State University grew lett… Continue reading Transparent solar cells don’t steal light from greenhouse crops
Scientists have made the surprising discovery of fossilized plants 1.4 km (0.9 miles) beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet. That indicates the island has been ice-free within the last million years or so – meaning it’s more vulnerable to climate change than… Continue reading Fossilized plants discovered a mile beneath Greenland ice sheet
You mightn’t know it from the outside looking in, but plants are complex organisms that use electrical signals to sense and respond to their surroundings. We’ve previously seen imaginative scientists harness these capabilities to produce cyborg plants … Continue reading Wearable electrode for plants makes a Venus flytrap close on demand