pollen

When the borough of Saint-Léonard planted a ginkgo tree on Dino Delisi's lawn, he liked the distinctive, fan-shaped leaves and its bright yellow colour in the fall.But his early admiration for the tree is long gone.About five years ago, he noticed what looked like gumball-sized fruit growing on the branches and each season, the crop has increased.Turns out, the borough planted a female tree by mistake.In the fall, the seeds, which resemble yellow cherries, fall to the ground and the fleshy exterior turns into a mushy,…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Through our burning of fossil fuels and other activities, we humans have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations more than 40 percent in the last 150 years. This increase in CO₂, and in another greenhouse gas—methane—has warmed the planet more than 1°C. Present greenhouse gas concentrations and…

Meet Pollen, a new French startup that wants to provide a better way to learn new skills. Instead of working with full-time teachers, Pollen invites business executives and top performers in the tech industry so that they can host a class with a small group of people. Behind the scenes, Pollen was co-founded by Julie Ranty, the former managing director of Viva Technology, a popular tech conference that takes place every year in Paris, along with Olivier Xu and Vincent Huguet. And Huguet knows a thing or two about…

Pollen grains under a scanning electron microscope. Credit: The Holocene (2023). DOI: 10.1177/0959683623117648. Sediments at the bottom of the ocean can offer a window into the past, indicating environmental conditions not just from the sea but washed in from terrestrial runoff, as well as preserving the flora and fauna of the time. Scientists access this knowledge by taking exploration cruises to core the seabed, bringing…

Almost every day, Jim Anderson climbs the stairs to the roof of the six-storey building where he works in London's SoHo neighbourhood. And while it offers an eye-catching vista of London's skyline, he's not up there for the view.He makes this daily ascent to tend to an instrument called a volumetric spore trap. Anderson, who is a aerobiologist, retrieves from the trap a slide covered with a thin layer of sticky grease, not unlike a fly trap. The instrument sucks in air at the rate of two litres a minute, blowing it…

Bumblebees are fuzzy, rotund, and indisputably adorable. They’re also secretly swole. The insects can cart around loads up to 80% of their body weight during foraging flights, and new research demonstrates that doing so probably isn’t easy. Get Ready For Another Summer of Invasive Lanternflies | Extreme EarthThe heavier a bumblebees’ pollen haul, the hotter a bee’s body temperature is likely to get, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Biology Letters. As with most other animals, there’s a ceiling on how…

Pollen from plants, such as ragweed (pictured here), could affect climate by helping clouds form. Credit: ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 2023, DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.3c00014 For millions of people with seasonal allergies, springtime means runny noses, excessive sneezes and itchy eyes. And, as with many things, climate change appears to be making allergy season even worse. …

Image: quiggyt4 (Shutterstock)Scranton is ranked in the top five on the list for an average total allergy score, receiving an 87.08-point ranking, the study reported.Grass and weed pollen is a top component here, and while tree pollen peaks in mid-February, it can continue well into May. Fortunately, residents and visitors won’t have to worry about weed pollen levels until fall when the weather changes. Image: quiggyt4 (Shutterstock)Scranton is ranked in the top five on the list for an average total allergy score,…

The impacts of ozone depletion and elevated UV-B levels on the terrestrial ecosystem. Credit: Conor Haynes-Mannering, University of NottinghamScientists from China, Germany, and the UK led by Prof. LIU Feng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) have revealed that pollen preserved in 250-million-year-old rocks contains abundant compounds that function like sunscreen but are produced by plants to protect themselves from harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation.The…

A big part of my job is staring at the latest deep-field images from space telescopes, images that remind me that our planet is less than a speck in the universe, and I’m just a speck on that speck. But photos of life on Earth up close flip the script, reminding viewers like me how much drama is happening even at tiny…Read more... A big part of my job is staring at the latest deep-field images from space telescopes, images that remind me that our planet is less than a speck in the universe, and I’m just a speck on that…