Ep. 479 - Insights into Nightshade Defenses

What happens when you disrupts plants? You disrupt ecosystems! Paleobotany provides us with multiple case studies on how change plant communities affects all walks of life and can lead to mass extinctions across the globe. Joining us to talk about this is the Assistant Curator fo ...  Show more

What do the white fringeless orchid (Platanthera integrilabia) and the red-cockaded woodpecker (Leuconotopicus borealis) have in common? Habitat preferences! This is becoming increasingly apparent on the Cumberland Plateau of southern Tennessee. Natural Areas Program Manager for ...  Show more

Plants aren’t just sitting around looking cute; they’re doing all sorts of stuff, like defending themselves, and even warning other plants about danger. Today, we’re talking all about the weird and wily world of plants with Professor Beronda Montgomery from Michigan State Univers ...  Show more

Are humans truly safe from the hunger of meat-eating plants? Can we trust the trees that loom over us? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss myths and fictions of killer trees, the science of carnivorous plants and the curious absence of mean-eating p ...  Show more

Plants are fully sick right now - and not just because indoor plants are in fashion. 

They have an immune system, they get infections, and can catch viruses... they just can't move away from their sick neighbours.

While we depend on white blood cells to fight off a ...

When you hear “invasive plant,” you might picture an aggressive species taking over and harming the environment. But what if the way we think about invasive plants is part of the problem? Host Rachel Feltman chats with Mason Heberling, associate curator of botany at the Carnegie ...  Show more