Some 10,000 years ago white rice evolved from wild red rice and began spreading around the globe. But how did this happen?

The first all-African genetically modified crop plant with resistance to the severe maize streak virus (MSV), which seriously reduces the continent’s maize yield, has been developed by scientists from the University of Cape Town and PANNAR PTY Ltd, a South African seed company.

“Don’t ever change” isn’t just a romantic platitude. It’s a solid evolutionary strategy. At least if you’re among the creatures that produce scads of genetically identical offspring – like microbes, plants or water fleas. These creatures provide a chance to wonder about the clones raised in near-identical environments that turn out differently than their kin.

Tobacco may be bad for human health, but a new study reports that a genetically engineered tobacco plant may be very good for the environment. It shows promise for cleaning up soil contaminated with TNT, a widely used military explosive.

A group of researchers from the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada) have come up with a wastewater treatment system which has three clear advantages with respect to systems currently used: it is possible to obtain cheaper water of a higher quality, it considerably reduces the size of treatment plants (by more than half) and it minimizes the resulting mud production.

Using DNA sequence data, botanists have shown that the large southern hemisphere plant family Proteaceae lived on the super-continent Gondwanaland almost 120 million years ago.

The ability of plants to self-pollinate – a big factor in the spread of weeds – is much older than previously thought in one widely studied species, leading biologists say.

Our crops are not doing well these days: too much water, too little sunlight... In short, they are suffering from stress. Scientists from VIB, associated with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven), have revealed a new mechanism demonstrating the intricate ways in which plants deal with stress.

When UC Botanical Garden's rare titan arum, Amorphophallus titanium (corpse flower), blooms this week, the flower will both attract and repel visitors. When the plant opens to a diameter of three to four feet, titan arum looks visually arresting, but it's best known for a characteristic that can only be experienced firsthand after it blooms: its distinctive odor.

Isoprene is a hydrocarbon volatile compound emitted in high quantities by many woody plant species, with significant impact on atmospheric chemistry. The Australian Blue Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Eastern United States are so called because of the spectral properties of the huge amounts of isoprenes emitted from the trees growing there.

Scientists have discovered how plant stem cells in roots detect soil structure and whether it is favourable for growth.

There are many objects in nature, such as flowers, that are “pre-programmed” to develop into delicate, beautiful and intrically shaped forms. But can this pre-determined process be duplicated by man starting with plain, flat surfaces"