plant

13 Invasive Plants You Should Rip to Shreds

Sometimes we have to kill parts of nature to protect the rest of it.

Conservation Angely Mercado Feb 6

See a Spider’s Face, a Human Tongue Cell, and Other Microscopic Wonders in These Winning Images

A gecko hand, slime mold, and butterfly egg are among the winners of Nikon's 47th Small World Photomicrography Competition this year

Biology Ed Cara Oct 14

Researchers Turned a Living Venus Flytrap Into a Cyborg Robotic Gripper

It’s not uncommon for robot-building engineers to take inspiration from one of Mother Nature’s designs, but this might be the first time we’ve seen one of her creations, a Venus flytrap plant, used to simplify the creation of an actual robotic component—in this case, a gripper capable of picking up delicate objects. In a recently…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jan 28

Human Poop Found in Coke Cans at Manufacturing Plant

File this story under shit you didn’t want to know. Police in Northern Ireland have opened an investigation to find out exactly how human feces found its way into a shipment of cans at a Coca-Cola bottling plant. https://gizmodo.com/we-spent-10-minutes-thinking-up-headlines-for-this-buck-1787440987 The soda behemoth told The Guardian that the poop-containing cans were discovered at the Hellenic Bottling Company…

Tech News Rhett Jones Mar 28

Carnivorous plant doesn’t have time for any of that junk DNA

In the human genome, only about 2% of our DNA are genes involved in coding the proteins essential to our existence. The other 98% is noncoding DNA, often called junk DNA because there’s no clear purpose for it. That name might seem a bit pejorative, but a new study of the bladderwort genome suggests it’s…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins May 19

Bees love caffeine just as much as we do

Countless people — myself very much included — can’t get through the day without regular intake of coffee, soda, and other caffeinated drinks. Now it turns out bees love the stuff too… and it’s actually good for them. Plants typically use caffeine as a defense mechanism. In high enough quantities, caffeine is toxic to some…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Mar 10

Ants have turned the Cape of Good Hope into their own giant garden

The region of South Africa around the Cape of Good Hope has some of the highest biodiversity in the world. Exactly why that is has puzzled scientists… until now. It’s actually all because ants are secret horticultural geniuses. In another remarkable example of evolutionary symbiosis, many plant species in the Cape region have developed fleshy…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 19

This seagrass could be a hundred thousand years old

Posidonia oceanica is found throughout the Mediterranean Sea. It forms massive clonal colonies, in which genetically identical specimens form one giant interconnected super-organism that can last for hundreds of thousands of years. Those colonies are older than human history. Image by Alberto Romeo. Posidonia oceancia, popularly known as Neptune grass, is one of a few…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Feb 5

Is this bizarre organism an animal, a plant, or both?

Actually, Mesodinium chamaeleon is both. This single-celled organism definitely eats other creatures, which makes it an animal. But it also absorbs algae cells that can then give it extra energy through photosynthesis. So what on earth is this strange creature? Found off the Scandinavian coast, Mesodinium chamaeleon is an animal that forms a symbiotic relationship…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 15

Ancient humans understood medicine and insecticides over 77,000 years ago

We know the history of medicine stretches deep into prehistory, but its exact origins remain mysterious. Simple surgery dates back to the stone age, and now there’s evidence of basic medical knowledge that dates back to the dawn of humanity. That’s the finding of an archaeological team led by Professor Lyn Wadley of the University…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 8

Invasive rats could be the savior of pollinating plants

About 90% of flowering plants require animals to pollinate them, and that includes about two-thirds of the world’s crops. The extinction of pollinating organisms could spell disaster… but the very species that are killing them off could prove excellent substitutes. The need for plants to be pollinated by insects and other creatures is one of…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 16

The Ice Age might still be going on inside China’s deepest caves

Hidden in the dark caves of southwest China, a fragment of Earth’s last Ice Age might well survive. Sadly, there aren’t any mammoths hiding out in there, but tiny plants might represent a last link to 30,000 years ago. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science and the UK’s Natural History Museum have identified seven…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 9

Plants survive animal attacks by creating lots of new DNA

Most of us wouldn’t welcome getting partially eaten by a wild animal — but it could be the best thing that can happen to a plant. Half-eaten plants grow back bigger and faster than they would have if they’d never been attacked — it’s all about doubling down on DNA. Not only can plants grow…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 1

Bananas have been hopelessly inbred clones for the last 7,000 years

If you want to see an evolutionary dead end, look no further than the supermarket produce aisle. Every banana you eat is an infertile clone, and its wild ancestors weren’t much better when it came to finding new genes. This isn’t good news for the bananas or one of their primary consumers (that’d be us).…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jul 6

Hide Ugly Cables Inside Fake Green Vines

Hate cables that run across your wall and look ridiculously ugly? If you are into the organic look, you should check out these Florafil cable covers from Tania da Cruz. They are designed to hide unsightly cables inside a sheath that resembles the stem of a plant. It’s only a concept right now, so you…

Tech News Kelly Jul 4

How to Use a Glass Coke Bottle to Quench Your Plants’ Thirst

The narration is husky and the instructions sound: why toss that glass Coke bottle into the trash (or recycling bin!), when you’re a few modifications away from a retro-tastic plant waterer? Beats an Aqua Globe, anyway. But really, if you need a reason to watch this transformation from thirst quencher to, well, thirst quencher, it’s…

Tech News Brian Barrett Jun 10

Unemployed Japanese Workers Flock to Radiation-Contaminated Fukushima

Japanese workers are so desperate for work that many are traveling to devastated areas of the country to find employment in the risky field of radiation cleanup. Laborers are traveling from all over Japan to rebuild the Tsunami devastated region of Fukushima. They are driven here by a poor economy, not national pride. Many workers…

Tech News Kelly Jun 8

Everything You Ever Wanted to Read about Chernobyl

With everything that’s happened in Japan in past months, it’s no surprise that world—and Web—is keenly aware of today’s ominous anniversary. From incredible galleries to deep analysis, here’s the most impressive Chernobyl coverage we’ve seen: https://jezebel.com/the-complete-japan-crisis-timeline-live-updates-5780998 GALLERY Boston.com has a great photo gallery of Chernobyl and Pripyat, 25 years later. TOURISM The Atlantic visited Ukraine,…

Tech News Joe Brown Apr 26

Huge Robots are Clearing the Fukishima Powerplant Debris

TEPCO started using large remote-controlled excavation vehicles to clear the debris around the Fukishima plants this past weekend, including power shovels and bulldozers. The work is being controlled by operators in lead-covered operating rooms using cameras mounted on the robots and around the area. These machines are being used in conjunction with the remote controlled…

Tech News Brian Lam Apr 13

First Look Inside Fukushima Reactor 3 After the Catastrophe Is Rather Unsettling

The Tokyo Electric Power Company has released new images from the interior of Fukushima’s reactor 3, as well as video of emergency personnel frantically working inside the plant. The images, which appear to be taken using a cellphone, show the destruction inside the reactor building as workers try to restore the electric power. At this…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Mar 23

plant

13 Invasive Plants You Should Rip to Shreds

See a Spider’s Face, a Human Tongue Cell, and Other Microscopic Wonders in These Winning Images

Researchers Turned a Living Venus Flytrap Into a Cyborg Robotic Gripper

Human Poop Found in Coke Cans at Manufacturing Plant

Carnivorous plant doesn’t have time for any of that junk DNA

Bees love caffeine just as much as we do

Ants have turned the Cape of Good Hope into their own giant garden

This seagrass could be a hundred thousand years old

Is this bizarre organism an animal, a plant, or both?

Ancient humans understood medicine and insecticides over 77,000 years ago

Invasive rats could be the savior of pollinating plants

The Ice Age might still be going on inside China’s deepest caves

Plants survive animal attacks by creating lots of new DNA

Bananas have been hopelessly inbred clones for the last 7,000 years

Hide Ugly Cables Inside Fake Green Vines

How to Use a Glass Coke Bottle to Quench Your Plants’ Thirst

Unemployed Japanese Workers Flock to Radiation-Contaminated Fukushima

Everything You Ever Wanted to Read about Chernobyl

Huge Robots are Clearing the Fukishima Powerplant Debris

First Look Inside Fukushima Reactor 3 After the Catastrophe Is Rather Unsettling

Anthropic’s New Model Is So Scarily Powerful It Won’t Be Released, Anthropic Says

Musk Asks Court to Give Potential Winnings in OpenAI Suit to OpenAI’s Nonprofit

Pro-Iran Hackers Target Critical U.S. Energy and Water Infrastructure

‘She-Hulk’ Was Apparently One of Marvel’s Most Successful Shows

The World’s First Eye-Tracking Smart Glasses Are Intriguing and Unpolished

Noah Hawley Is Remaking ‘Terrified,’ Which Shouldn’t Happen

Unprecedented Observation Reveals 2 Supermassive Black Holes Locked in a Tight Death Spiral

This Apple MacBook Pro Is Now Under $500 After 78% Off, Grade-A Refurb Deal (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Touch Bar)

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

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