Home

On:

and siblings! – The future may be stranger than you think! It takes two for human reproduction, but biologists have discovered plants and animals that can rely on EITHER a partner or go it alone by self-fertilization give their offspring a better chance for longer lives when they choose to use a mate.

Sex with self in the animal and plant world is known as selfing. Offspring born from selfing share all of their genes in common with their parent, and each is capable of producing another generation of offspring. Offspring from outcrossing share 50% of each parent’s genes, and some are born males incapable of bearing offspring. Selfing populations don
read more

On:

When attacked, plants use bugs to protect themselves and to retaliate. It turns out they can also defend themselves by using their roots to secrete acid that brings bacteria to the rescue.

This quashes the misperception that plants are at the mercy of passing pathogens and sheds new light on a sophisticated signaling system inside plants that rivals the nervous system in humans and animals.

Researcher Harsh Bais says, “Plants are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. People think that plants, rooted in the ground, are just sitting ducks when it comes to attack by harmful fungi or bacteria, but we’ve found that plants have ways of seeking external help.”
read more

On:

The secret lives of plants are one thing. But it goes beyond that–plants have a whole lot to teach us, and Anne explores this important ignored wisdom with plant expert Stephen Buhner. We tune out the natural world. We ignore its voices. But we cannot survive unless we reconnect with it, and there is very little time. Don’t miss this urgently important program.read more