As you may have noticed when washing vegetables, many plants have superhydrophobic leaves. Water just beads up on their surface and slides right off. This is a useful feature for plants that Keep reading
Tag: agriculture
How Rain Can Spread Pathogens
Rainfall can help spread pathogens from an infected plant to healthy ones. This transfer can happen both through droplets and by dry-dispersal of pathogen spores (top). When a raindrop hits Keep reading
The Sharpshooter Insect
The sharpshooter is a small, sap-sucking insect capable of consuming more than 300 times its body weight in fluid each day. To sustain that level of intake, the insect also Keep reading
Making Droplets Stick
Lots of plants have evolved leaves that are superhydrophobic – that is, water repellent. For a plant, this makes a lot of sense. A superhydrophobic leaf will make water bounce Keep reading
Rain-spread Pathogens
Like humans, plants can spread pathogens to one another. Although scientists had observed correlations between rainfall and the spread of diseases among plants, this study is one of the first Keep reading