All Florida Museum of Natural History articles
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NewsSome plants can make their own fertilizer - scientists say they learned it more than once
In a new study, scientists show that chemical receptors that plants use to recognize nitrogen-fixing bacteria have developed the same function independently on at least three separate occasions through a process called convergent evolution.
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NewsDisease experts upgrade sentinel chicken system to create forecast for West Nile virus
An interdisciplinary team of experts have created a statistical model that accurately predicts the activity of West Nile virus in an area up to six months in advance. The model was trained using two decades of sentinel chicken data.
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NewsScientists build roadmap to bioengineer plants that produce their own nitrogen fertilizer
Nitrogen fertilizers make it possible to feed the world’s growing population, but they are also costly, harm ecosystems and require a lot of energy to manufacture. However, a few plants have evolved the ability to make their own nitrogen with the help of bacteria. A new study helps explain how ...
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NewsWormlike animals are first amphibians shown to pass microbes to their offspring
Skin-feeding does more than provide nutrients for young caecilians - it also helps the mother pass microbes from her skin and gut down to her young, inoculating them to jump-start a healthy microbiome.