The bunchberry dogwood, unlike its taller relatives, is a low-lying subshrub that spreads along the ground. But it sports some of the fastest action of any plant, requiring 10,000 frames Keep reading
Tag: botany
Plant Week: Jumping Spores
You might think that plants are pretty stationary, but they have evolved a myriad of ways of moving, especially when it comes to spreading their seeds and spores. Shown above Keep reading
Plant Week: Bladderworts
Carnivorous plants live in nutrient-poor environments, where clever techniques are necessary to keep their prey from getting away. The aquatic bladderwort family nabs their prey through ultra-fast suction. This starts Keep reading
Plant Week: Dandelions in Flight
To kick off Plant Week here on FYFD, we’re taking a closer look at that ubiquitous flower: the dandelion. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, these little guys manage to get just about Keep reading
Plant Week: Introduction
Spring has sprung! The trees have leaves, the flowers are in bloom, and snow is (almost) a distant memory.* And here at FYFD, we’re getting ready to kick off a Keep reading
Flying Beetles, Stinging Nettles, and Jellyfish
In the latest JFM/FYFD video, we tackle some of the less pleasant aspects of summer weather: stopping invasive insects, understanding how plants dispense poison, and looking at the physics behind Keep reading
“Flowers and Colors”
Many children have done the simple experiment of placing a cut flower in dyed water and watching as it changed color. The latest video from Beauty of Science relies on Keep reading
Withstanding Windstorms
Saguaro cacti can grow 15 meters tall, and despite their shallow root systems can withstand storm winds up to 38 meters per second without being blown over. Grooves in the Keep reading
Drawing Up Dew
Desert plants have evolved to efficiently collect and capture whatever water they can. Each leaf of the moss Syntrichia caninervis ends in a hairlike fiber called an awn (seen in Keep reading