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Categories: Biology: Botany, Offbeat: Computers and Math

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The soils of northern forests are key reservoirs that help keep the carbon dioxide that trees inhale and use for photosynthesis from making it back into the atmosphere.

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A new study has used a series of innovative field experiments to show how plants combine circadian clock signals with environmental cues under naturally fluctuating conditions.

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Building on a landmark algorithm, researchers propose a way to make a smaller and more noise-tolerant quantum factoring circuit for cryptography.

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Researchers have demonstrated a technology capable of a suite of data storage and computing functions -- repeatedly storing, retrieving, computing, erasing or rewriting data -- that uses DNA rather than conventional electronics. Previous DNA data storage and computing technologies could complete some but not all of these tasks.

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Non-living hydrogels can play the video game Pong and improve their gameplay with more experience, researchers report. The researchers hooked hydrogels up to a virtual game environment and then applied a feedback loop between the hydrogel's paddle -- encoded by the distribution of charged particles within the hydrogel -- and the ball's position -- encoded by electrical stimulation. With practice, the hydrogel's accuracy improved by up to 10%, resulting in longer rallies. The researchers say that this demonstrates the ability of non-living materials to use 'memory' to update their understanding of the environment, though more research is needed before it could be said that hydrogels can 'learn.'

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Honey bees may play a role in increasing virus levels in wild bumble bees each spring, according to researchers who analyzed seasonal trends of parasite and virus transmission in bees.

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Tortilla chips and fresh salsa are tasty, but they could be even more appealing if you grow the ingredients yourself. Now, researchers report that some salsa ingredients -- cilantro, bell pepper and jalapeno -- can be more sustainably cultivated with recycled glass. Their pilot study found that partially substituting soil in a planter with recycled glass fragments speeds up plant development and reduces unwanted fungal growth.

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Epigenetics confers a survival advantage in plants to endure harsh weather by inducing bud dormancy. Environmental factors or intrinsic signals trigger the transition between growth and dormancy. Researchers explore the role of chromatin and transcriptional changes in the bud and further analyze data using artificial intelligence models. The findings of this study highlight epigenetic strategies to overcome the effects of short winters during global warming for plant survival.

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An insect species that evolved 130 million years ago is the inspiration for a new research study to improve navigation systems in drones, robots, and orbiting satellites.

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A new adaptive 3D printing system can identify the positions of randomly distributed organisms and safely move them to specific locations for assembly.

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Researchers have identified the genetic changes linked to why plants go through a developmental change similar to 'puberty' at different rates, a discovery which could lead to better crop nutrition.

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James Joyce's tome 'Finnegans Wake' famously breaks the rules of normal prose through its unusual, dreamlike stream of consciousness, and new work in chaos theory takes a closer look at how Joyce's challenging novel stands out mathematically. Researchers compared the distribution of punctuation marks in various experimental novels to determine the underlying order of 'Finnegans Wake' and by statistically analyzing the texts, researchers found the tome exhibits an unusual but statistically identifiable structure. The wide singularity spectrum was perfectly symmetrical, meaning sentence length variability follows an orderly curve.

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A zinc-air microbattery could enable the deployment of cell-sized, autonomous robots for drug delivery within in the human body, as well as other applications such as locating leaks in gas pipelines.

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Decades after his voyage on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin became fascinated by why plants move as they grow -- spinning and twisting into corkscrews. Now, more than 150 years later, a new study may have solved the riddle.

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With 2D cameras and space robotics algorithms, astronautics engineers have created a navigation system able to manage multiple satellites using visual data only. They just tested it in space for the first time.

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Researchers have developed a smart fabric that can convert body heat and solar energy into electricity, potentially enabling continuous operation with no need for an external power source. Different sensors monitoring temperature, stress, and more can be integrated into the material.

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A new, air-powered computer sets off alarms when certain medical devices fail. The invention is a more reliable and lower-cost way to help prevent blood clots and strokes -- all without electronic sensors.

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Ancient fossil beans about the size of modern limes, and among the largest seeds in the fossil record, may provide new insight into the evolution of today's diverse Southeast Asian and Australian rainforests, according to researchers who identified the plants.

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A recent study details how trees in New York City and Boston are more negatively impacted by heat waves and drought than trees of the same species in nearby rural forests. The finding highlights the challenges urban trees face in the context of climate change and underscores the importance of tailored urban forestry management as a tool for protecting tree species and reducing urban heat islands.

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A computer algorithm has achieved a 98% accuracy in predicting different diseases by analyzing the color of the human tongue. The proposed imaging system can diagnose diabetes, stroke, anemia, asthma, liver and gallbladder conditions, COVID-19, and a range of vascular and gastrointestinal issues, according to new research.