The face of high-elevation evergreen forests in Western Canada could be drastically altered as a combination of climate change, human and natural disturbances is making spruce and pine forests in the Rocky Mountains vulnerable to a slow but steady invasion of aspen trees.
As if they weren't considered beastly enough, black holes can dive into nearby stars and devour them from the inside out, scientists now suggest. Such invasions by such black holes could help explain the most powerful explosions in the universe, gamma-ray bursts, whose origins remain elusive.
"The water content of leaves, their thickness, their density and other properties can now be determined without even having to touch them. A team of researchers from the CSIC Institute of Acoustics and the Agri-Food Research and Technology Centre (CITA) of Aragón has just presented an innovative technique that enables plant leaves to be studied using ultrasound in a quick, simple and non-invasive fashion."
"Harsh P. Bais und seine Kollegen vom Molekularbiologie-Programm des Instituts für Gartenbau und Landschaftsarchitektur der Colorado State University konnten jetzt nachweisen, dass der Erfolg der Flockenblume zum Großteil auf die nicht vorhandene chemische Gegenwehr ihrer neuen Pflanzennachbarn zurück zu führen ist. "