Researchers have just documented how plants use underground fungal networks to warn neighboring plants of impending insect attack, uniquely illustrating the complex and highly designed interconnected cooperation found in nature.

Could living near trees possibly affect human health? Increasingly, studies indicate that trees can improve human health. Evolution doesn't expect this, but biblically speaking, trees and people have close ties.

Whether considering squishable apple tissue or resilient tree trunks, researchers say that plants "build" their parts using only four ingredients. Precise measurements of plant tissue strengths show that they vary across three orders of magnitude. How do plants so effectively use the same four building blocks to manufacture materials with such widely varying strengths?