Fern

Researchers have made a shocking discovery. According to a new study published in Ecology, scientists have discovered a “zombie fern” in Panama that reanimates its dead leaf fronds and turns them into roots, so that the mother plant can continue feeding.It’s an interesting discovery that showcases just how unique and intriguing plant life on our planet can be. The researchers say that this phenomenon only happens when the dead leaves droop to the ground. After making contact with the soil, the plant seems to…

Other plants, including some ferns, send out leaves or shoots that touch the ground and sprout roots to sustain a new plant. But the Panamanian tree fern, Cyathea rojasiana, reconfigures its “zombie leaves,” reversing the flow of water to draw nutrients back into the plant. Credit: Graphic by Camila Pizano, color by Michael VincentPlant biologists have discovered that a unique species of tree fern, exclusive to Panama, has the ability to regenerate its deceased leaf fronds into root-like structures. This fern, known as…

Booker prize shortlisted author Paul Murray and comedian Fern Brady have been announced as the winners of their categories in the inaugural Nero book awards.Irish writer Murray topped the fiction category for his novel The Bee Sting, while Brady’s memoir Strong Female Character was chosen by the judges as the best in the nonfiction category. Close to Home by Michael Magee and The Swifts by Beth Lincoln have been crowned winners of the debut fiction and children’s fiction categories respectively.Quick GuideNero book awards…

Ordinarily, once a fern's leaf fronds have died, the plant has no further use for them. Such is not the case with the Cyathea rojasiana fern, though – a scientist has discovered that its dead fronds become "zombie leaves" which suck nutrients from the soil.While studying another type of plant in a Panamanian forest reserve, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Prof. James Dalling and colleagues noticed something interesting about the Cyathea rojasiana tree ferns, which are only found in Panama.When fronds of the…

Paul Murray, Eleanor Catton and Fern Brady are among the authors shortlisted for the inaugural Nero book awards.Caffè Nero announced the new awards in May this year, less than a year after Costa abruptly scrapped their book prizes of 50 years’ standing. The new prizes see 16 writers shortlisted across four categories: fiction, debut fiction, children’s fiction and non-fiction.Quick GuideNero book awards shortlist 2023ShowThank you for your feedback.The winner of each category will be announced in January, and will receive…

How to Be a FernBlue-white then inky grey then hailstonesgo pitter-patter on the glass.The city I loved whose name I’ve erased returnsbetween me and the glassas the thunder bends like saxophonesburied inside one of Keats’s urns.Give me a second chance, the city insinuates.A legion of storm clouds evaluatesme. I was young, opened my hearttoo soon and the wind tore it apartjust like that. Wind was never a cityexcept when it drained the blood,stuffed silences like cotton woolinto my ears, eyes, nose, asshole,mouth, and…

‘This place is magical,” says Fern Maddie. She’s explaining that she just randomly met an audience member, who was about 50 and went to the same “weird hippy college” as her in her home state of Vermont. Maddie only recently took a break from living in the woods and tending goats there to play her first tour – only to bump into someone with mutual friends more than 3,000 miles away.You suspect the occasion was ordained by the folk musician’s acclaimed 2022 album Ghost Story, which she self-released, but found widespread…

Ferns can also be fractals. Generate and plot the Barnsley Fern fractal in Python using MatplotlibTwo Barnsley Fern Fractals. Image by the Author.Ferns are beautiful plants that exhibit a self-similar structure: the entire plant is similar to a part of itself. This property makes them interesting from a mathematical point of view. The fern pattern can be described as a fractal that can be mathematically generated, thus being reproducible at any scale. We can zoom-in indefinitely and never run out of ferns.Photo by…

Ferns are weird. They're green and leafy like other forest plants, but they reproduce more like mushrooms do—by releasing clouds of spores. Many species don't require a partner for fertilization, unlike most of their seed-bearing cousins. Recent studies estimate ferns split from seed-bearing plants about 400 million years ago. And fern genomes are bafflingly large. Despite ferns' unique physiology and their relationship to seed plants, however, these strange genomes have been largely neglected by researchers. Until…

Image: Universal Studios Parks and ResortsThere’s a timelessness to Steven Spielberg’s E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial—which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year—that can’t be denied. It encompasses movie magic on a level that transcends the screen through its music and its story of a friendship between a boy and an alien that defies the odds. It’s set to return to the screens later this summer on IMAX, but there’s one place it’s never left. At Universal Studios Orlando, the only opening day attraction still operating…