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Plants

Tree fern, once considered “evolutionary dead-end,” turns out to have been advanced

Curiously, we keep finding that ancient life forms were more complex or advanced than thought, not that they were simpler and more primitive than thought. What does that imply about the drivers of our expectations? Read More ›

Caterpillars stifle plants’ chemical warning cries

Findings: "We have discovered a new strategy whereby an insect uses saliva to inhibit the release of airborne plant defenses through direct manipulation of plant stomata," said Gary Felton, professor and head of the Department of Entomology at Penn State, noting that stomata are tiny pores on plant leaves that regulate gas exchange" Read More ›

There is now a philosophy of plant biology—and a call for abstracts

Everyone knows plants don't have minds but they do have a lot of intelligence. Just an accident or part of the intelligence massively inherent in nature? From what source? Darwinism grows increasingly difficult to believe. Read More ›

Devolution: The “surprising” gene costs of the carnivorous lifestyle to plants

Researchers: "To their surprise, the researchers discovered that the plants do not need a particularly large number of genes for carnivory. Instead, the three species studied are actually among the most gene-poor plants known. " Yes, because - as Mike Behe says - Darwin Devolves. Read More ›

There is an “underlying design principle” in plants?

"Our model shows that by absorbing only very specific colors of light, photosynthetic organisms may automatically protect themselves against sudden changes -- or 'noise' -- in solar energy, resulting in remarkably efficient power conversion," said Gabor, an associate professor of physics and astronomy, who led the study appearing today in the journal Science. Read More ›

Billion-year-old algae (“leaves, … branches …”) raise some interesting questions

Like any real history, evolution is not driven by a single force or idea. Horizontal gene transfer from bacteria obviates the quest for an “ancestor” seaweed. Maybe there isn’t one. Read More ›

Green plants discovered in China dated at a billion years ago

It’s not “land” vs. “sea” that’s really significant here. It’s how much time was available for the development of photosynthesis. If the claim is that photosynthesis developed via natural selection acting on random mutations (Darwinism), then it must have somehow randomly happened in that billion years. Was there enough time? becomes an unavoidable question. Read More ›