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The discovery of an 80-million-year-old fossil plant pushes back the known origins of lamiids to the Cretaceous, extending the record of nearly 40,000 species of flowering plants including modern-day staple crops like coffee, tomatoes, potatoes and mint.

Winter is coming to an end; the last nights of below zero temperatures are here. In the morning, one still spots the occasional icicle on a gutter or car bumper. When you look at these icicles carefully, you may notice that they show a characteristic pattern of ripples -- always...

Researchers have developed a new technique that can help create high-quality, accurate 3D models of large-scale landscapes -- essentially, digital replicas of the real world. The framework reconstructs the geometry, structure and appearance of an area using highly detailed images taken by aircraft typically flying higher than 30,000 feet. These...

In the course of five years, citizens who went on sailing cruises to the Arctic surveyed and collected plastic debris that had washed up on the shores of Svalbard. This has now been analyzed. According to the findings, one third of the plastic debris which still bore imprints or labels...

A new sodium battery technology shows promise for helping integrate renewable energy into the electric grid. The battery uses Earth-abundant raw materials such as aluminum and sodium.

New research shows that degraded savanna ecosystems can reap lasting benefits from a single seeding of native understory plants. Once a diverse understory of savanna plants became established, its long-term persistence was relatively unaffected by environmental factors -- with one exception. Higher temperatures during the height of the growing season...

For the first time, researchers mapped the metabolic mechanisms in a Comamonas bacterium that digests chemicals from plastic and plant waste. This new information could potentially lead to novel biotechnology platforms that harness the bacteria to help recycle plastic waste.