Botany

Botanics

Farming with lunar soil

Plants cultivated in lunar soil grow slower and show more signs of stress than those grown in volcanic ash from Earth

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Paleontology

São Paulo was once covered by forest

São Paulo Metropolitan Area was once covered by vast forest of araucaria trees between 180,000 and 135,000 years ago

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BOTANY

Collection from the Dutch Brazil era includes illustrations of almost 200 plants

Among the flora of northeastern Brazil drawn in the seventeenth century are 35 exotic species originating from abroad, such as sunflowers

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biotechnology

Artificial neuron controls carnivorous plant

Researchers build artificial neuron with material compatible with biological tissues

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Obituary

Two lives dedicated to biodiversity

Thomas Lovejoy and Edward Wilson are unforgettable benchmarks with respect to the importance of nature and conservation

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Biodiversity

Wild species at the table

Wild varieties can enrich the diet and the decor

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Linguistics

A neglected threat to ethnobotany

Study shows that language extinction could lead to incalculable losses of medicinal knowledge

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Climate

Cerrado under threat

The Cerrado is getting hotter, drier, and more prone to fire

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biodiversity

South America’s Endangered Oases

With only 4% of their area protected, fog oases are threatened by urbanization, mining, increased air pollution, and off-road trails

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INTERVIEW

Carlos Alfredo Joly: It’s time to focus on biodiversity

Botanist who created the Biota program states that defending the preservation of biological wealth is key to fighting climate change

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Video

The plant biological clock benefits agriculture

Understanding the plant circadian rhythms, and learning how to manipulate them, may widen cultivation options | 2'42

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Careers

Drawn to nature

Cecília Tomasi, an illustrator who worked at the São Paulo Botanical Institute for 30 years, has dedicated her career to depicting Brazilian flora

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Photolab

The phoenix tree

Like the mythical bird that rises from the ashes, the andira tree sprouts from the ground after wildfires in the Cerrado

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Botany

Tropical trees die sooner

Tropical species have average lifespans of 186 years, while temperate species live for an average 322 years, a study on 438 tree species shows

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Biology

Underground dispute

A team of researchers from the USA, Spain, and Brazil have explained the growth behavior of plant roots

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Memory

The chemist of evolution

Otto Gottlieb associated the structural complexity of substances with the development plants and their environment

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Obituary

The pharmacy of plants

Elisaldo Carlini, a pioneer in the study of medicinal plants and cannabis compounds, dies at 90 years of age

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Genomics

Disease-immune orange trees

New cultivars developed at the Campinas Agronomic Institute using tangerine genes show resistance to citrus variegated chlorosis

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Photolab

Plant-stem lace

If you take a thin slice of a young stem of Acleisanthes chenopodioides and look at it under a microscope, this is what you will see

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Ecology

Pollinating ants

The ant species Camponotus crassus is the primary fertilizer of the evergreen plant species Paepalanthus lundii, endemic to the Cerrado of Minas Gerais

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Interview

João Batista Calixto: The voice of Brazilian pharmaceuticals

The pharmacologist from Minas Gerais has dedicated his life to developing new drugs

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Interview

Lauro Barata: The network of natural wealth

A chemist promotes connections in order to turn plant substances into applied products

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Ecology

Plants that grow on iron

Research finds 38 plant species that exist only in the so-called Amazonian cangas, a type of rupestrian grassland found in the Serra de Carajás area

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Interview

Alexandre Antonelli: At the forefront of science in royal gardens

In February, a Brazilian biologist will assume the role of scientific director of Kew Gardens in the United Kingdom

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Photolab

Inside the vines

The dyed stem cross-sections in the images show the stiffer and the more flexible parts of forest vines

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Ecology

Selective hosts

Flowers exploit color and odor to hide from or attract specific bees

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Botany

Plants with miner roots

Study demonstrates a new function of the roots of B. tomentosa and B. macrantha

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History

Memories indelible by fire

For 200 years, the National Museum contributed knowledge in the natural sciences and inspired the creation of several other science museums

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Botany

Rare Cuban flora

The library at Cornell University, USA, has published a scanned copy of a nineteenth-century manuscript on Cuban flora by American botanist Nancy Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft on its website

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Botanics

The origin of the mango flower’s sweet smell

In the mango and cajuzinho-do-campo flowers, the scent glands are located at the inner base of the petals

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