MIT chemists boost the efficiency of a key enzyme in photosynthesis

The enzyme, known as rubisco, helps plants and photosynthetic bacteria incorporate carbon dioxide into sugars.

Anne Trafton | MIT News • mit
July 7, 2025 ~7 min

Study shows how a common fertilizer ingredient benefits plants

The findings could enable new ways to increase plants’ resilience to UV stress and enhance seedling growth.

Zach Winn | MIT News • mit
July 7, 2025 ~7 min


Most plant-friendly fungi are a mystery to scientists

Most fungi that partner with plants are known only from trace DNA sequences left in soil.

Thomas Parker, Upland Ecologist, James Hutton Institute • conversation
July 3, 2025 ~9 min

Galápagos tomatoes are evolving in ‘reverse’

On some islands of the Galápagos archipelago, wild tomatoes are doing something peculiar. They're shedding millions of years of evolution.

Jules Bernstein - UC Riverside • futurity
July 1, 2025 ~7 min

Plants in hospital rooms may enhance recovery

"Hospital rooms are more than just places for treatment—they're environments that can either support or hinder healing."

Texas A&M University • futurity
July 1, 2025 ~6 min

Why there’s a growing backlash against plant-based diets

The evidence is clear - so why are people questioning the benefits of plant-based diets?

David M. Evans, Professor of Sociotechnical Futures, University of Bristol Business School, University of Bristol • conversation
June 25, 2025 ~5 min

Some plants create their own pesticide, but there’s a downside

A natural alternative to pesticides may be hiding in a misunderstood plant compound—but it could come at an environmental cost.

Michigan State • futurity
June 23, 2025 ~8 min

Could trees know when the summer solstice is?

Plants seem to know when the longest day of the year is.

Andrew Hacket-Pain, Senior Lecturer, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool • conversation
June 19, 2025 ~8 min


Coal power plants were paid to close. Is it time to do the same for slaughterhouses?

The food industry faces the same ‘stranded asset’ problem as fossil fuel companies.

Stephanie Walton, Researcher on Food Systems and Sustainable Finance, University of Oxford • conversation
June 17, 2025 ~9 min

Inside the chimpanzee medicine cabinet: we’ve found a new way chimps treat wounds with plants

The plants chimpanzees use to treat their wounds have been found to have medicinal properties.

Elodie Freymann, Post-doc affiliate, University of Oxford • conversation
June 11, 2025 ~7 min

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