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

How to protect your favourite urban trees from increasing danger

England is dawdling behind many other countries when it comes to protecting our important trees.

Lucy Grace, PhD Candidate, Climate Change and Literature, Nottingham Trent University • conversation
June 23, 2025 ~6 min


New start date for the Anthropocene proposed – when humans first changed global methane levels

Ice cores provide important evidence as archival records of global atmospheric composition that has constantly changed.

Vincent Gauci, Professorial Fellow, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham • conversation
June 19, 2025 ~8 min

Worsening allergies aren’t your imagination − windy days create the perfect pollen storm

From sending more pollen airborne to breaking up pollen grains, which lets them penetrate deeper into your lungs, the wind is not the allergy sufferer’s friend.

Christine Cairns Fortuin, Assistant Professor of Forestry, Mississippi State University • conversation
May 5, 2025 ~6 min

UK must grow more of its own wood to meet climate goals – new research

New research warns the UK must grow more of its own wood to meet climate targets.

Eilidh Forster, Research Associate, Bangor University • conversation
April 29, 2025 ~6 min

Maple seeds’ unique spinning motion allows them to travel far even in the rain, a new study shows

Spinning maple seeds can shed raindrops in the blink of an eye to regain their helicopter-like flight.

Andrew Dickerson, Associate Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee • conversation
Feb. 28, 2025 ~5 min

Botanic gardens are struggling to keep up with the biodiversity crisis – here’s what they can do

Botanic gardens have evolved from medicinal gardens to scientific institutions, Now, they must become conservation leaders on a global scale.

Samuel Brockington, Professor of Evolution, Curator of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, University of Cambridge • conversation
Feb. 27, 2025 ~7 min

Art and science illuminate the same subtle proportions in tree branches

Artists and scientists explore how we subconsciously perceive subtle proportions in trees.

Mitchell Newberry, Research Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Michigan • conversation
Feb. 11, 2025 ~8 min


Central India’s indigenous forests are falling victim to bullets and bulldozers

Forests in India’s tribal heartland are being caught in the crossfire of conflict.

Bulbul Prakash, PhD Candidate in Politics, University of Manchester • conversation
Jan. 30, 2025 ~7 min

Trees ‘remember’ wetter times − never having known abundant rain could buffer today’s young forests against climate change

Water availability regulates tree growth and can have ‘legacy effects’ long after conditions change.

Marcus Schaub, Group Leader, Forest Dynamics and Ecophysiology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) • conversation
Jan. 9, 2025 ~11 min

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