Hacker News with Generative AI: Botany

Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction (smithsonianmag.com)
One leading botanist is scouring remote corners of the earth to find new species that could keep our mugs full

Coffee, Botany, Climate Change, Extinction, Agriculture

166 points by derbOac 2 days ago | 132 comments

Six new ancient date trees (arava.org)
On August 23rd, 2021, Arava Institute staff harvested three bunches of dates from our world-famous ancient date palms. This is the second year of harvesting fruit from this previously extinct tree, brought back to life by Dr. Elaine Solowey.

Ancient Trees, Botany, Agriculture, Israel

28 points by mooreds 4 days ago | 0 comments

The Safest Path to Stable Climate Is Designing New Plants (palladiummag.com)
<h3>The Amazon Was Created By a Lost Civilization of Gardeners</h3>

Climate Change, Agriculture, Sustainability, Botany

3 points by surprisetalk 11 days ago | 0 comments

Carl Linnaeus's note-taking innovations (jillianhess.substack.com)
Even if you know nothing about the Swedish doctor, professor, and naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), you probably know about his greatest innovation: binomial nomenclature.

Science, History, Botany, Biology

18 points by sandebert 12 days ago | 4 comments

A study reveals that deciduous trees' roots remain active in winter (creaf.cat)

Science, Botany, Winter, Trees

70 points by bryanrasmussen 12 days ago | 31 comments

What Fruits and Vegetables Looked Like Before We Domesticated Them (2016) (businessinsider.com)
Next time you bite into a slice of watermelon or a cob of corn, consider this: These familiar fruits and veggies didn't always look and taste this way.

Food, History, Agriculture, Botany

25 points by jxmorris12 14 days ago | 5 comments

Mapping the yerba mate genome reveals the evolution of caffeine biosynthesis (phys.org)
Mapping the yerba mate genome reveals surprising facts about the evolution of caffeine

Genetics, Botany, Caffeine

5 points by PaulHoule 39 days ago | 0 comments

Botanical gardens have reached peak capacity (cosmosmagazine.com)
In an analysis of a century’s worth of data on botanical gardens and arboreta, researchers reveal that global living plant collections have reached capacity, impacting their ability to meet scientific and conservation goals.

Science, Botany, Conservation, Environmentalism, Research

9 points by geox 53 days ago | 0 comments

A 1,000-Year-Old Seed Grows in Israel (nytimes.com)
For 14 years, scientists have been growing a tree akin to the Judean balsam — the source of the balm of Gilead — but with no modern counterpart.

Science, Botany, History, Israel

21 points by Brajeshwar 100 days ago | 1 comments

Saving the Apple's Ancient Ancestor in the Forests of Kazakhstan (smithsonianmag.com)
Found in the Tian Shan mountains, Malus sieversii could hold the secret to making other species of the fruit more stress-resistant

Conservation, Botany, Kazakhstan, Genetics

11 points by vector_spaces 104 days ago | 2 comments

Finding the Mango's Origin (2017) (fairchildgarden.org)
We think we know our mangos, but much of their origin is a mystery researchers are trying to unravel through exploration, DNA research and other methods. They’ve even begun to ask if all cultivars of this incredibly diverse fruit are truly the same species.

Botany, Fruit, Research, Genetics, History

27 points by Tomte 110 days ago | 4 comments

Coffee Plants of the World (sca.coffee)
Coffea arabica, which is indigenous to Ethiopia and some neighboring lands, first was transported out of its homeland into neighboring Yemen. From Yemen, coffee was transported around the world. The coffees that we call typicas today originated from plants that left Yemen and were taken to Java and outlying Islands, possibly by the Dutch, possibly with some transport by the mythical monk Baba Budan. The coffees we call Bourbon today stem from plants transported to Ile Bourbon with the French.

Coffee, History, Botany, Agriculture

6 points by andrewstetsenko 141 days ago | 0 comments

Solanine (wikipedia.org)
Solanine is a glycoalkaloid poison found in species of the nightshade family within the genus Solanum, such as the potato (Solanum tuberosum), the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), and the eggplant (Solanum melongena). It can occur naturally in any part of the plant, including the leaves, fruit, and tubers. Solanine has pesticidal properties, and it is one of the plant's natural defenses.

Botany, Chemistry, Food Safety

10 points by teleforce 142 days ago | 2 comments

The Leningrad botanists who saved the first seed bank (theguardian.com)
During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection had to protect it from fire, rodents – and hunger

History, Botany, Russia, Conservation

144 points by robaato 143 days ago | 44 comments

Will plants grow on the moon? (worldsensorium.com)
Three humble plants from Earth will soon travel to a new home on the moon.

Space Exploration, Botany, Moon, Plants

85 points by dnetesn 149 days ago | 72 comments

Plants find light using gaps between their cells (quantamagazine.org)
A mutant seedling revealed how plant tissues scatter incoming light, allowing plants to sense its direction and move toward it.

Botany, Biology, Science, Light, Plants

42 points by milanaross 156 days ago | 1 comments

Garden cress and cyanobacteria grow under simulated K dwarf starlight (cambridge.org)

Astrobiology, Botany, Science, Astronomy

5 points by westcort 167 days ago | 0 comments

The Kew Herbarium (2019) (us.toa.st)
I'm standing in the centre of the herbarium at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, surrounded by grand Victorian architecture.

Botany, Museums, History

19 points by demail 168 days ago | 10 comments

Wanted: Expedition botanist to follow in Darwin's footsteps and look for plants (theguardian.com)
With the promise of travel, adventure and the chance to follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, applications have opened for what might be the best job in the natural world: an expedition botanist to go on plant-collecting adventures for Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

Botany, Science, Travel, Academia, Jobs

7 points by abeppu 177 days ago | 1 comments

Biblical plant with medicinal properties resurrected from 1,000-year-old seed (cnn.com)

Biblical History, Botany, Archaeology, Medicine, Science

102 points by peutetre 182 days ago | 34 comments

Botanists identify 33 global 'dark spots' with unknown plants (theguardian.com)
Botanists have identified 33 “dark spots” around the world where thousands of plant species are probably waiting to be discovered, according to new research.

Botany, Science, Biodiversity, Exploration, Discovery

6 points by mykowebhn 185 days ago | 0 comments

Will plants grow on the moon? (nautil.us)
Three Earth plants will soon make a new home on the lunar surface.

Space Exploration, Botany, Lunar Research

99 points by dnetesn 188 days ago | 106 comments

Paramotorists soar across remote Peru desert to collect threatened plants (phys.org)
In an innovative paper published today in the journal Plants, People, Planet, scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Huarango Nature and paramotorists from Forest Air, highlight the exciting potential of paramotoring as a means of aiding research and conservation efforts in some of the most fragile and challenging parts of the globe.

Conservation, Botany, Technology, Peru, Remote Sensing

69 points by wglb 190 days ago | 24 comments

Wild ginseng is declining, but small-scale 'diggers' aren't the main threat (theconversation.com)
Across Appalachia, September marks the start of ginseng season, when thousands of people roam the hills searching for hard-to-reach patches of this highly prized plant.

Environment, Botany, Conservation, Appalachia

11 points by rntn 200 days ago | 0 comments

Floral formula (wikipedia.org)
A floral formula is a notation for representing the structure of particular types of flowers.

Botany, Biology, Scientific Notation

142 points by theogravity 208 days ago | 19 comments

Moondance: Experience the marvel that is night-blooming tobacco (theamericanscholar.org)

Plants, Nature, Gardening, Botany

48 points by samclemens 212 days ago | 20 comments

Risking His Own Extinction to Rescue the Rarest of Flowers (nytimes.com)

Conservation, Endangered Species, Botany, Environment

3 points by aguaviva 226 days ago | 1 comments

Genetics solves a thorny problem: how plants have prickles (cosmosmagazine.com)

Genetics, Botany, Plants, Science

79 points by gmays 236 days ago | 27 comments

Streetlights are influencing nature–from how leaves grow to how insects eat (nationalgeographic.com)