Trees are Getting Shorter and Younger

The world’s collective forests have become shorter and younger overall in the past 50 years, according to a study published in the journal Science on Friday. This means that forests have less capacity to remove carbon from the atmosphere and are less hospitable to the many species that rely on them for shelter. Oh, and it’s going to get worse.

Tree rings contain secrets from the forest

Neil Pederson’s introduction to tree rings came from a “sweet and kindly” college instructor, who nevertheless was “one of the most boring professors I’d ever experienced,” Pederson said. “I swore tree rings off then and there.” But they kept coming back to haunt him.

The Mystery of the Sex-Changing Sugar Maple Trees

Scientists have known for some time that trees not only have a sex, but can sometimes switch between sexes. But they haven’t always known why. Now, as The Washington Post’s Amy Ellis Nutt reports, a new study suggests that for at least one species, the switch happens after injury.

Why Do We See More Species in Tropical Forests?

When Charles Darwin first sailed into the tropics aboard the HMS Beagle in 1835, he was stunned. The 26-year-old naturalist had expected to find the same level of diversity of plants and animals as he had left behind in the higher latitudes of Plymouth, England. Instead, on the balmy Galapagos Islands, he found a multitude of strange and diverse creatures thriving together.

Trees Are Even More Amazing Than We Realized

Trees, is there anything they can’t do? Doubtful. Let’s see: producing half the world’s oxygen, providing habitat for millions of species, creating the soil and timber resources we depend on. Not bad. But all that’s just scratching the surface. As new research shows, there’s a lot more going on beneath the forest floor than we realized.

This Sunset Video Makes It Seem Like the Sky Is on Fire

Sometimes there are just no words. Sometimes there is just a tree and a setting Sun and a sky that turns from a bright yellow to a deep orange. The Film Artist made this video, Be Sunset Tree, and it’s just majestic. How the Sun crosses the tree, how the tree seemingly cradles the light, and how the sky looks like it’s on fire.

OVER HALF OF ALL AMAZONIAN TREE SPECIES ARE IN DANGER

Ever since we were children, we’ve learned in grade school and from Ranger Rick about the cutting down of the rainforest. We learned that it’s bad—that lots of animals and trees are killed and people’s livelihoods are turned upside down. We’ve been told random facts and figures about how many acres are destroyed every second. We eventually start to become numb to it.

Yuna – Castaway ft. Tyler, The Creator

Action Bronson – Mongolia ft. Hologram, Meyhem Lauren

KAYTRANADA – The Worst In Me ft. Tinashe

Future & Lil Uzi Vert – That’s It

H.E.R. – Damage

TOBE NWIGWE – EAT

A little bit of soul

This image of the Soul Nebula (IC 1848) combines 21.1 hours of exposures through Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen-III, and Sulfur-II filters. This object resides in the constellation Cassiopeia the Queen.

Jellyfish in the ocean of space

Supernova remnant IC 443 has the common name the Jellyfish Nebula, and it lies at the top right of this image. The other, larger, nebula is IC 444. Both objects are in the constellation Gemini the Twins. Terry Hancock from Grand Mesa, Colorado

Seven sisters

The Pleiades (M45) is the most famous star cluster in the sky. It lies 444 light-years away in the constellation Taurus the Bull. The clouds of gas seen in this image are not connected to the stars, but are a dust cloud through which the cluster is passing. Dave Doctor from Las Cruces, New Mexico

Old friend

The Orion Nebula (M42) may be the most photographed deep-sky object of all. It’s a huge emission nebula and star-forming complex. In addition to the glowing hydrogen, however, the object also has regions of both reflection and dark nebulae. James Esch from Lovettsville, Virginia

Boom goes the star

The Cygnus Loop is a huge supernova remnant some 2,500 light-years away. It has many components, and this image shows two of them well. At the top is the Witch’s Broom (NGC 6960), and Pickering’s Triangle (which doesn’t have its own designation) lies down and to the lower left of the Broom. Naresh Singh from Saint Petersburg, Florida

Natural satellite