genetics and heredity
How about them apples? Research orchards chart a fruit’s future
Scientists there are working on understanding the genetics that result in this bonanza of apple diversity, with the ultimate goal of improving the fruit in different ways — tastier, heartier, more disease-resistant and with longer shelf-life in the face of changing climates.
Opinion
www.nytimes.com
Op-ed: Humans have a long history of making ‘very bad decisions’ to save animals
As scientists push the frontiers of conservation technology, some of their initiatives raise ethical questions.
The world's largest plant is a self-cloning sea grass in Australia
The species is called Poseidon’s ribbon weed, and researchers say it has spread to cover an area the size of Cincinnati over the past 4,500 years.
Photo by Matteo Di Iorio on Unsplash
Saved by a bucket, but can the Owens pupfish survive?
The Owens pupfish, a small blue fish native to the springs in the California desert, was spared from extinction on an August afternoon in 1969 by Phil Pister and his two buckets.
www.nytimes.com
Learning to love G.M.O.s
Overblown fears have turned the public against genetically modified food. But the potential benefits have never been greater.
www.nytimes.com
The social life of forests
Trees appear to communicate and cooperate through subterranean networks of fungi. What are they sharing with one another?
www.nytimes.com
Human activity devastated the American chestnut. Can we bring it back?
The tree helped build industrial America before an estimated three billion or more were destroyed. To repair the damage, we may need to embrace tinkering with nature.
ORIGINAL REPORTING
MOST POPULAR
CLIMATE