University of Copenhagen researchers have shed new light on how plant life became established on the surface of our planet. Specifically, they demonstrated that two genes are indispensable for ...

The results of a new study push back the date of emergence of land plants around 80 million years to approximately 500 million years ago. This new date coincides with the emergence of the first land ...

The arrival of plants on land about 400 million years ago may have changed the way the Earth naturally regulates its own climate, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL (University College ...

A rare fossil plant reveals how early plants moved water and food, helping to explain the secrets of tree growth.

Most of what we know about the deep history of life on Earth comes from fossils, and according to that record, plants migrated from the sea onto land about 420 million years ago. But the story told by ...

The common liverwort is a living link to the transition from marine algae to land plants. Biologists have analyzed the genome sequence of the common liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) to identify genes ...

Scientists have discovered that the evolution of land plants caused a sudden shift in the composition of Earth's continents. Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that the ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. The ancient ancestors of all modern land plants - with 298,900 ...

Relationship between plants and filamentous microbes not only dates back millions of years, but modern plants have maintained this ancient mechanism to accommodate and respond to microbial invaders.

Some 470 million years ago, the first land plants emerged from prehistoric waters, put down roots in soil and ended up ruling the plant world. But scientists haven’t been certain about the family ...