Category Archives: Plants and animals

Plants and animals found living on a giant plastic island In the North Pacific there is a giant garbage room made of plastic waste. The floating island weighs around 80,000 tons and covers an estimated area of ​​1.6 million square kilometers – that’s twice the size of texas and three times the size of France. […]

The growing season is drawing to a close and winter is upon us. Nature prepares for winter when the days get shorter and the temperatures cooler. The metabolism of woody trees and shrubs slows down. Water absorption (necessary for photosynthesis) will not be possible when the ground freezes. The leaves of deciduous plants fall off […]

Minnesota’s great lime and sugar maple forests have been cut into smaller and smaller pockets over the past 150 years. The “Big Woods” that once ruled the state are long gone, divided into hundreds of parks and reserves. There are still vestiges of the old forest that have never been mined, or at least have […]

It has long been proven that noise pollution has an impact on animals. They say birds sing at higher frequencies, bats have trouble finding prey, frogs have trouble finding mates, and whales speak louder to communicate with each other. The world becomes even noisier due to human activity like construction, infrastructure development, machinery, urban growth, […]

The government has confirmed that it will introduce legislation in the near future to speed up the use of gene editing as a way to improve both crops and livestock. While a full government response to the consultation it conducted earlier in the year is still awaited, a statement from Cabinet Minister Lord Frost said […]

S impl and complex are antonyms, but not with jellyfish. Jellyfish lack brains, bones, hearts, and lungs. Over 95% of their body is made up of water. Early scientists wondered if jellyfish were even animals, generally calling them “zoophytes”, intermediaries between animals and plants. Jellyfish meet modern biology criteria for classification as animals, but despite […]

A new study, conducted with the support of eight universities and seven Australian environmental organizations, has identified the continent’s most endangered plants and animals. This is the most comprehensive nationwide dataset describing threats to Australia’s flora and fauna. Researchers have identified 1,339 species of plants and 456 species of animals that are listed as threatened […]

Aerial view of deforestation in Daly River, Northern Territory in 2008. Credit: Julian Murphy / WWF-Aus The first comprehensive list of threats to Australia’s most endangered plants and animals reveals brutal news about the future of some of the country’s favorite species. The study led by the University of Queensland compiled a dataset, listing threats […]

A new study published in the journal Science discovered that plant roots and animal embryos depend on the same chemicals for successful development. Although the animal tissue-generating abilities of a group of chemical compounds called retinoids are already well known, it was only recently that scientists discovered that they also regulate the development of lateral […]

Large ramshorn snails (Planorbarius corneus) eat algae, scratching it off rocks with a tongue that has sunken teeth. The red tint of their shell is caused by hemoglobin – the same substance that colors our blood. © Stuart Jackson Carter Many species of aquatic plants provide micro-habitats for invertebrates, amphibians, birds and mammals. For example, […]