NASA scientists are using an instrument on the Terra satellite to detect these signs of damage which include slight alterations in the amount and condition of foliage present.
Some evangelical Christians have expressed concern that Halloween is somehow Satanic because of its roots in pagan ritual.
Sweet potatoes were one of the many root crops that were a staple in the West indies where enslaved Africans were pressed into service on sugarcane plantations Twitty told Livescience.
Slaves were given small plots of land unfit for sugarcane production on which to grow food to feed themselves Twitty said.
Some of these slaves worked as sugar-boiling men who took harvested sugarcane and boiled it down into molasses to make rum.
and pecan pie has Southern roots as well. Norwegian Americans make a potato flatbread called lefse which they serve with meatballs Bertelsen said.
Many of these branches terminated long ago due to extinction but some of their genes live on in us thanks to horizontal gene transfer.
#How Cherry Blossoms Came into Budding US Popularity The pink cherry blossoms that explode into bloom every spring in Washington D c. are famous around the country flowering due to a courtesy gift from Japan
A few seeds did make their way into the United states before the Japanese sent thousands in the 1900s.
Stages of Cherry Blossom Blooms Three years later the Japanese sent more than 2000 young trees to be planted near the Potomac river as a symbol of the growing friendship between the two nations.
The island nation renewed its vow to send seeds over shipping more than 3000 in 1912.
He was awed by the tree's unique beauty according to the city's cherry blossom festival website.
Cherry blossom (sakura in Japanese) festivals are held now every spring in these cities as well as other locations in the United states. The trees stand as not only a symbol of friendship but also as a glimmer of the fragility of spring.
and cedars in southern Europe Central asia and North africa devouring the foliage of these trees. These social caterpillars spin large communal white silk nests
and provides a whimsical space for kids to sit in thrones carved out of large stumps climb through tunnels sawed into downed trunks
I think it's great that they have been able to do something good out of something that was said so tragic Brooklyn resident Annmarie Anderson as her 3-year-old son looked at her giggling completely soaked by a water pump attached to an overturned trunk.
If you drive at speed down a tree-lined road the trunks move quickly past your eyes
But bees often need to land on vertical surfaces such as flower petals in order to obtain pollen or nectar.
when you talk to the villagers says Diaka Sall Root Capital's Dakar-based credit manager for West Africa.
Though the conflict that ripped apart Mali earlier this year had deep political and ethnic roots it was fueled by decades of drought food insecurity and poverty.
Other enterprises producing agroforestry crops from the Sahel like the baobab shea nut and cashew trees other such truffula-like trees offer similar potential.
Overharvesting limits the supply of pine nuts and acorns a main food source for Amur tigers prey.
Stem Cell Advance Reignites Ethics Debate A new stem cell discovery has reawakened controversy about human cloning though technical challenges mean scientists are far from being able to create human babies as in Michael
which is the same one used to create the cloned sheep Dolly in 1996.5 Wild Stem Cell Discoveries
But in clones the trophoblast cells frequently fail perhaps a domino effect from just a few genes going wrong said Jose Cibelli a stem cell researcher at Michigan State university.
These cells are called induced pluripotent stem cells (ips cells) and their use is supported generally by anti-abortion groups such as the USCCB
and insert it in the place of the egg's original nucleus. Now that adult cell's genome can hum along in its new home creating stem cells without the mitochondrial defects present in its original form.
How Stem Cell Cloning Works (Infographic) That's neat because in one step you can technically get rid of that mitochondrial mutation Penn's Gearhart told Livescience.
The resulting embryonic stem cells could then theoretically be grown into adult cells to replace the ailing person's mutated cells.
My feeling is that it's sort of an unintentional step in that direction said Paul Knoepfler a stem cell researcher at the University of California Davis School of medicine.
and more broadly to enter STEM professions. And it stands out because of the social and environmental ramifications of human-powered vehicles which offer very tangible benefits to people in both developed and undeveloped nations.
#Iceland Volcano Eruption Fueled Ocean Blooms The explosive volcanic eruption Iceland saw in 2010 may have disrupted life in the air above Europe
Iceland Volcano's Fiery Sunsets Ocean bloom Iron is key to ocean life helping spur the growth of single-celled organisms known as phytoplankton.
when volcanic iron fertilized the waters the resulting phytoplankton bloom sucked up other nutrients as well.
Those tortoises kept Madagascar's unique ecosystem in check by munching on low-lying foliage trampling vegetation and dispersing large seeds from native trees like the baobab.
and leaf litter biomass builds up on the forest floor and frequently causes wildfires. In addition many of Madagascar's plants have evolved defenses against large herbivores such as spines
Replacement tortoises on the Mascarene Island of Rodrigues are restoring seed dispersal and grazing patterns after only seven years on the island.
if any DNA but hair roots do and in mammals red blood cells (but not white blood cells) push out their DNA as they mature so they can squeeze along tiny blood vessels.
They could also identify a lettuce or a strawberry from a leaf or from the fruit.
The new rule also says that gluten-free foods cannot contain any wheat rye or barley or any of their crossbreeds.
People with the intestinal condition celiac disease have to avoid eating foods that contain gluten proteins that occur naturally in wheat rye and barley.
The gymnosperms belong to a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers cycads Ginkoplants and woody plants called gnetophytes.
In areas where lemurs sleep in trees the branches are high off the ground and form a safe canopy.
While an individual leaf may see less light the forest on average as an ecosystem sees quite a bit Reinhardt said.
The team also measured how easily air bubbles form in the xylem the water-transporting vascular system of trees.
The roots of placentals Much remains controversial about the origins of placentals such as when they arose
To uncover the roots of the placental family tree and help resolve the decades-old debate as to
when it came to exploring more ancient branches of the mammal family tree. Discovering the tree of life is like piecing together a crime scene it is a story that happened in the past that you can't repeat O'Leary said.
and leaves and branches withered away especially among the forest's older more vulnerable canopy trees researchers say.
We had expected the forest canopy to bounce back after a year with a new flush of leaf growth
so the plants can take them in through their roots. One way to judge whether these materials are easily available for use by the plants is to measure the electrical conductivity of the soil.
Gluten is a protein found in many grains including wheat rye and barley. It's found in most breads cereals pastas and many processed foods according to Webmd.
Gluten is a protein found in many grains including wheat rye and barley. It's found in most breads cereals pastas and many processed foods according to Webmd.
all the trunks neatly aligned to the north. Beyond this oetree down zone the forest remained standing but was seared lifeless.
He reasoned that the termites feed on the grasses'roots killing the plants which usually use up the soil's water
 The shaman who once used these rocks probably belonged to an indigenous culture that lived off maize manioc and wild tubers.
but Still Plenty of Leaf Peeping Spots Leaf-peeping season is in full swing but the federal government shutdown has shuttered the country's national parks closing off some of the prime areas for checking out autumn's riotous colors.
Plenty of state parks around the country whose foliage is sight to behold are open for visitors.
Let's start in the part of the country perhaps most synonymous with fall foliage: New england. This region is awash in fall colors at this time of year the hues are even clear from space!
Leaf Peeper Paradise: Autumn's Best Colors The area is currently at 80 percent of its peak fall color according to New hampshire's tourism website with the best bets for amazing views in upland areas where sugar maples are a riot of yellow and orange.
and sun-bleached terrain but about 70 miles (about 110 kilometers) west of San antonio sits a leaf-peeping paradise:
http://oregonlakesandrivers. com/content/leaf-peeping-king-castle-trail) For more prime leaf peeping spots check out the websites of state parks in your region i
and then they created synthetic leaf traps or biomimetic plastic surfaces. Traditionally in Bulgaria Serbia and other southeast European countries households with infestations of bed bugs have thwarted the evasive little bloodsuckers by strewing kidney bean leaves on the floor at night.
Entomologist Catherine Loudon and her colleagues at University of California Irvine with fellow researchers at the University of Kentucky used videography and scanning electron microscopy to investigate the possibility of creating synthetic leaf traps as a sustainable and nontoxic
When you put a bed bug on a bean leaf and it takes a few steps and this actually happens fairly rapidly I was astonished rather...
The leaf acts like a little tiny miniature fish hook she said. The scientists then fabricated surfaces out of plastic that are similar to the leaf surfaces geometrically indistinguishable Loudon said.
Unfortunately these biomimetic surfaces don't do the trick quite yet--they snag the bugs but don't trap them.
As yet we have not been able to replicate all of the necessary mechanical properties of the microscopic bean leaf trichomes in our synthetic surfaces Loudon said.
The fossil has a dark fruit enclosed by a ribbed calyx (a papery husk) just like modern Physalis Wilf said.
Both the fossil tomatillo and today's plants have husks with five major and five minor ribs he added.
But until now only fossil seeds attributed to Solanaceae plants have been discovered in South america most of the family's early fossil history comes from Europe.
The earliest South american tomato fossil larger than a seed is about 16 million years old.
Acorns and leaves from Castanopsis the first oak ever found in South america and the first evidence of the African cycad called Encephalartos from South america.
#NY Giant Pumpkin Carving Weekend Smashes Record The world s largest pumpkin and gourds are on display this weekend through Halloween at the New york Botanical garden where expert carvers are currently at work providing
and the world s largest long gourd a lengthy 139.25 inches grown in Nova scotia Canada.
and juniper mint cinnamon bark and other herbs flavored it. The jars were remarkably consistent in their contents suggesting that winemakers were sticking to a recipe.
First it removes foreign objects such as stems leaves and insects such as beetles from the grapes a capability that some wineries already possess in other optical approaches.
Fisher cats nibble on everything from acorns to deer carcasses. The scientists found rat poison in 85 percent of fisher cat carcasses collected on public and tribal lands according to a study published in June in the journal Conservation Letters.
and is largely responsible for the devastating algae bloomsâ describedâ by the New york times. Why Lake erie is Under attack from Algae Blooms The key question is:
so that algal blooms and dead zones whether in Lake erie or the Gulf of mexico become a thing of the past?
But the payoff the size of the environmental win in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing algal blooms linked to agriculture is huge.
See Photos of 7 Potent Plants in the Exhibition Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) beloved by gardeners for its drooping bell-shaped blooms may be one of the most famous examples.
and other underwater life burrowing between the roots of dislodged stumps. Images: Mysterious Underwater Stone Structure Some of the trees were truly massive and many logs had fallen over before being covered by ocean sediment.
Root vegetables and tubers such as carrots potatoes and turnips usually have the highest lead concentrations. Leafy greens such as spinach also have high concentrations according to Langley-Turnbaugh.
Planting produce in raised beds with store-bought soil will keep plant roots from coming into contact with contaminated earth.
Because lead travels more readily into the roots of plants when soil conditions are acidic increasing the alkalinity of the soil may halt the plant's absorption of lead.
especially midges mosquitoes flies beetles and spiders as well as grass seeds and berries. On the wintering grounds
and microbes adjacent to rice roots can be used to block the arsenic uptake. Bais first identified the bacterial species in soil samples taken from California rice fields.
and slow arsenic uptake in rice roots but the researchers have not yet determined exactly how this process works
if creating an iron shield around the rice roots will slow arsenic movement into other parts of the plant Bais said.
Sherrier and Bais who received a 2012 seed grant from the National Science Foundation-funded Delaware Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research ultimately want to determine how UD1023 slows arsenic movement into rice roots
Coating seeds with bacteria is very easy. With this bacteria you could implement easy low-cost strategies that farmers could use that would reduce arsenic in the human food chain.
Starches are found in root vegetables tubers winter squashes grains and legumes. Your body starts digesting these starches from the moment you start chewing extracting nutrients and energy.
Intense flames can create a layer of plant oils that keep soil from absorbing water as well as destroying plant roots
In fire-prone areas the big trees that survived the fire have thick bark and high branches that protected them Skinner said.
One species Didymosphenia geminata is responsible for creating thick blooms in mountain streams and ponds. It is colloquially known as didymo or rock snot.
Too much water around the roots of a grapevine will kill the plant or cause it to produce poor quality fruit.
#School Gardening Programs Plant Seeds of Healthy Eating Involving children in a school gardening program may do more than cultivate a green thumb.
and vegetable intake at home but feedback from teacher surveys and principal interviews suggested it had begun to plant seeds of change.
Seeds of change School-based kitchen and gardening programs are a great way to help children understand where their food comes from
Take DNA from seeds like raw nuts or peas. Use about 2 cups of plant material and about half a cup of water and a tablespoon of salt instead of Gatorade.
and lightly tap the coat hanger against objects made of different materials such as a metal swing set and a tree trunk or wooden fence post.
The main sources of fat in the traditional Mediterranean dietdiet come from olive oil nuts and fish and these foods are eaten in moderation said Heather Mangieri a nutrition consultant and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
While nuts and seeds are a source of omega-3 fatty acids a type of healthy fat it's not clear how much of this healthy fat we actually get by eating them Mangieri said.
and seeds may not be very much. Because of this the best sources of omega-3s are fatty fish such as salmon sardines and trout.
Further analysis revealed the presence of tree roots at the center. The team then dated the structure using levels of radioactivity in minerals and the ratio of carbon isotopes or molecules of carbon with different numbers of neutrons from charcoal and grains of sand.
With the Rim Fire nearly out and major roads reopened visitors were finally returning to Yosemite for camping and the park's fall foliage display.
since the tropical flower finally went into full bloom on Sunday (July 21) but its time in bloom is quickly coming to a close.
A corpse flower's rare malodorous bloom only lasts for 24 to 48 hours after
which time it closes up and collapses. We've already reached that stage where the plant is showing signs of beginning to pack it in Ari Novy a plant scientist
A Corpse Flower Blooms'Really really unpleasant'Although the line to get in to see the blooming corpse flower stretched around the block
and a half Novy said A titan arum can bloom more than once however these are fickle plants.
and it is the first to bloom in Washington D c. since 2007. The 2007 flower was part of a Smithsonian collection.
or so years between blooms and there are recordings of them taking as many as 20 years between blooms.'
'Freak of nature'Despite the fact that the corpse flower's famous stench has dissipated the bloom was still a sight to behold for many visitors.
Gagliano and her colleagues recently showed corn seedling's roots lean toward a 220-Hertz purr
and the roots emit clicks of a similar tune. Chili seedlings quicken their growth when a nasty sweet fennel plant is nearby sealed off from the chilies in a box that only transmits sound not scent another study from the group revealed.
Gagliano imagines that root-to-root alerts could transform a forest into an organic switchboard.
To replace this moisture roots suck water from the ground sending it skyward through a series of tubes called the xylem.
The drier the soil the more tension builds up in the xylem until pop an air bubble is pulled in through the membrane.
but realistically these were emitted from roots in the ground so the truth is we probably wouldn't hear it she said.
And the fizzy bubble bursts in xylem are ultrasonic about 300 kilohertz detectable only by insects and some other animals.
and monkeys often have tails that let them grab branches). O. bambolii had apelike arms odd teeth with ridges more like a monkey's
Spores infect the sky But even though the Taupo diatom shells are pristine Theriot is doubtful any diatoms lived through the eruptions.
Instead he suspects diatom resting spores could travel the atmospheric currents dropping out and colonizing new ecosystems.
Diatoms fashion spores to ride out inhospitable changes in their environment Two years ago Danish researchers revived 100-year-old resting spores from muck in a local fjord.
Resting spores have been found in clouds. The eruption could have launched spores from the lake bottom into the atmosphere Theriot said.
I and many others have joked about Yellowstone blowing up again and dispersing the diatomite that is being created at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake Theriot said.
and each additional tree's roots suck 18 gallons of moisture up out of the ground before runoff can feed thirsty creeks.
me Pick any number inside Pascal s triangle and look at the six numbers around it (that form alternating petals in the flowers drawn above).
If you multiply the numbers in every second petal you ll end up with the same answer no matter which of the petals you start from.
to the historical roots of Pascal s triangle. As mentioned above all the numbers in Pascal s triangle actually correspond to combinations that is they tell us exactly how many ways we can choose a small group of objects out of a larger group
and was inscribed on buildings stele artifacts and books (only a few examples of Maya books survive today).
The netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific research (TNO) announced they ll build printers to reassemble pureed food to look like the original think 3d printed broccoli florets from pureed broccoli.
The process could potentially use stem cells. Industrial scale printing of meat could additionally use cells grown in an algae-based cell culture
which protect the tree bark and branches. So as we're climbing we're not digging the rope into the tree branch
which would be damaging the cambium layer of the tree. Also we want to make sure to stay on the rope the whole time.
or more for plant colonies to grow on a tree branch. But just one kick with your boots and you can dislodge an entire ecosystem
and the poisonous mercury is now slowly making its way toward the fruit and nut orchards and the rice fields of California s lush Central Valley America s food basket according to new research by a team
Some plants have the natural ability to take up through their roots and concentrate metals such as nickel cadmium and zinc in their leaves and shoots.
so plants have no natural way of taking the particles in through their roots. Under certain chemical conditions gold solubility can be forced said Chris Anderson an environmental geochemist and gold phytomining expert at Massey University in New zealand.
Field samples and greenhouse experiments suggest these gold particles which exist at concentrations not harmful to the trees are absorbed by the roots
Tension in the xylem tubes increases in times of drought then cavitates. Douglas firs and pine trees can repair this damage as frequently as every hour said Katherine Mcculloh a plant ecophysiologist at Oregon State university in a past Our Amazing Planet interview.
6985 visits (6. 7 percent) Seeds nuts or shells: 6771 visits (6. 5 percent) Chips pretzels or popcorn:
or seeds nuts or shells were more likely to require hospitalization than those who choked on other foods.
and vegetables) or those that are consumed by the handful (such as seeds and nuts) which may be too much for a child to chew the researchers said.
#Tracking Leaf-Out: A Good Cause Takes Root: Op-Ed Jake Weltzin is an ecologist with the U s. Geological Surveyand executive director of the USA National Phenology Network.
 He contributed this article to Livescience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The first days of spring are upon us:
Changes in the timing of leaf-out that important indicator of spring to so many of us including farmers
When warmer temperatures occur earlier in the year trees may leaf out and blossom earlier
but also color change and leaf drop in the autumn across the entire country For the next five years we re particularly interested in tracking maples oaks
You can contribute phenology data to Nature s Notebook an online program the USA National Phenology Network manages that collects observations of leaf phenology from professional and amateur naturalists.
It had never been shown that the circadian rhythm of the leaf affected the whole tree said study researcher Rubã n DÃ az Sierra a physicist at the National University of Distance Education in Spain.
and crustaceans that sheltered between tree roots. After Livescience's Ouramazingplanet originally reported the story people from around the country contacted Raines to discover the forest's location including several salvage companies hoping to mine the forest for its wood.
and shapes mimicking those from nature like shells and foliage. There will be natural materials plenty of light and open spaces.
This sudden boom in tree blossoms could have allergy sufferers seeing symptoms more abruptly than usual.
A forest mystery Fossilized wood and leaf impressions record a history of the Antarctic forests.
The leaf impressions appear to show mats of leaves as if the trees had shed all at once a sign of a deciduous forest.
and use drip irrigation to target water directly to a plant's roots. Conversion to drip irrigation is happening albeit slowly.
For instance slightly water-stressed plants redirect their sugar formation into seeds and fruits at the expense of leaves and branches
The scientists hope that identifying similar fossil tree-leaf sites will help the massive milldam restoration projects underway throughout the Northeast.
& Marshall College scientists discovered the fossil leaf site. Email Becky Oskinâ or follow her@beckyoskin. Follow us@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.
Nuts and seeds contain high levels of minerals and healthy fats. Although these are common additions on superfood lists the downside is that they are high in calories.
A quick handful of shelled nuts or seeds could contain more than 100 calories. Related: Reality Check:
the modern version is grown merely for its floret instead of leaves. These dark vegetables are loaded with vitamins A c and K as well as fiber calcium and other minerals.
But be forewarned that the pawpaw's maroon blossom while beautiful is said to smell like rotting meat which might further explain its delayed cultivation.
when bacteria spores enter the body through a cut or scrape on the skin. Of the three forms of the disease cutaneous pulmonary and gastrointestinal cutaneous anthrax is the easiest to treat with antibiotics.
Spores of anthrax bacteria can lie dormant for years before entering a living host where they reactivate
In 2001 letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news-media offices and two U s. senators resulting in the deaths of five people and the infection of 17 others.
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