school energy&environment
Plants
Botanists, who are scientists who study plants, have identified and described over 3,500 types of plants, but there are many more! Plants have different shapes and sizes, some are so small they can only be seen with a microscope, while others are so tall that it is hardly possible to identify their foliage; many have very colourful flowers others do not have any.
There is such a large variety of plants because they live in different environments of the Earth: in the water, in thick forests or wide plains, in cold climates or blazing deserts. Since millions of years they have had to and have known how to adapt to their environment. Plants provide much of the oxygen that animals and humans breathe, and a large part of the food they eat.
subjects dealt with in Plants
Plants knowledge
Algae are plant organisms that carry out photosynthesis but which, unlike plants, have a poorly differentiated body, or thallus, and…
Man and Plants
Plants are essential food for all living organisms, including man, to survive. In the Ecosystems section, we saw they are…
Impacts on ecosystems
Farming also means exploitation of forests. There are many reasons for deforestation: timber trade, exploitation of ore deposits, urbanisation and…
GMOs
In the light of the current food crisis, to increase agricultural productivity on a global scale, it’s possible to expand…
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture was established in response to environmental problems caused by the “green revolution” and other production methods having high…
special reports
-
26 October 2022 / Life
Praising the meatball
Let's learn to transform waste into resources How often have we opened the refrigerator to find a couple of eggs…
10 October 2022 / Life
Spider lullaby
There are spiders that weave a classic web, that one we all know, to catch prey. There are others who…
19 September 2022 / Life
Double blow to dinosaurs
The Main Asteroid Belt is between Mars and Jupiter, an enormous ring consisting of millions of large and small rocks…
-
24 May 2022 / Life
Amphibians in peril
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns: the extinction rate of amphibians is about 200 times greater than…
8 March 2022 / Life
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
27 February 2022 / Life
In search of the riders of icebergs
International Polar Bear Day, set up by Polar Bears International, a non-profit organisation, was held on 27 February. The aim…
-
12 February 2022 / Life
A naturalist's voyage around the world
12 February is Darwin Day, the annual event that falls on the birthday of Charles Darwin (born 12 February 1809),…
18 December 2021 / Life
The Christmas Star Tradition
A plant that symbolises the Christmas season, decorating homes and shops and featured prominently by the florists and garden centres…
15 September 2021 / Life
Can you be intelligent without a brain?
Can you be intelligent without a brain? The answer is "in a certain sense, yes" and this is demonstrated by…
-
26 October 2022 / Life
Praising the meatball
Let's learn to transform waste into resources How often have we opened the refrigerator to find a couple of eggs…
10 October 2022 / Life
Spider lullaby
There are spiders that weave a classic web, that one we all know, to catch prey. There are others who…
-
19 September 2022 / Life
Double blow to dinosaurs
The Main Asteroid Belt is between Mars and Jupiter, an enormous ring consisting of millions of large and small rocks…
24 May 2022 / Life
Amphibians in peril
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns: the extinction rate of amphibians is about 200 times greater than…
-
8 March 2022 / Life
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
27 February 2022 / Life
In search of the riders of icebergs
International Polar Bear Day, set up by Polar Bears International, a non-profit organisation, was held on 27 February. The aim…
-
12 February 2022 / Life
A naturalist's voyage around the world
12 February is Darwin Day, the annual event that falls on the birthday of Charles Darwin (born 12 February 1809),…
18 December 2021 / Life
The Christmas Star Tradition
A plant that symbolises the Christmas season, decorating homes and shops and featured prominently by the florists and garden centres…
-
15 September 2021 / Life
Can you be intelligent without a brain?
Can you be intelligent without a brain? The answer is "in a certain sense, yes" and this is demonstrated by…
-
26 October 2022 / Life
Praising the meatball
Let's learn to transform waste into resources How often have we opened the refrigerator to find a couple of eggs…
-
10 October 2022 / Life
Spider lullaby
There are spiders that weave a classic web, that one we all know, to catch prey. There are others who…
-
19 September 2022 / Life
Double blow to dinosaurs
The Main Asteroid Belt is between Mars and Jupiter, an enormous ring consisting of millions of large and small rocks…
-
24 May 2022 / Life
Amphibians in peril
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns: the extinction rate of amphibians is about 200 times greater than…
-
8 March 2022 / Life
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
-
27 February 2022 / Life
In search of the riders of icebergs
International Polar Bear Day, set up by Polar Bears International, a non-profit organisation, was held on 27 February. The aim…
-
12 February 2022 / Life
A naturalist's voyage around the world
12 February is Darwin Day, the annual event that falls on the birthday of Charles Darwin (born 12 February 1809),…
-
18 December 2021 / Life
The Christmas Star Tradition
A plant that symbolises the Christmas season, decorating homes and shops and featured prominently by the florists and garden centres…
-
15 September 2021 / Life
Can you be intelligent without a brain?
Can you be intelligent without a brain? The answer is "in a certain sense, yes" and this is demonstrated by…
from the Multimedia section
curiosities
-
Vampire curiosities
A harmless vampire The bat, called common vampire bat, sucks blood, but rather than Dracula, the protagonist of many terrifying…
Bats, facts and fiction
Legend or fact? In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches…
Fish are champions migrators
Migratory fish are true athletes: some of them swim thousands of kilometres during their migration from their birthplace to the…
-
The thousand uses of lichens
Throughout history, humans have used lichens for a variety of purposes. The oldest evidence of lichen use dates back to…
Unusual vegetables
Distributed at all latitudes, lichens are able to conquer extreme biotopes, adapting to living in places where plants would find…
Watch out for aliens!
Italy has some new inhabitants, but that is no cause for celebration: the list of alien species is long. Two…
-
Plants and bacteria giving new "light" to off grid communities
"Planta lampara", a lamp powered by the energy produced thanks to the combination of plants and bacteria...
-
Vampire curiosities
A harmless vampire The bat, called common vampire bat, sucks blood, but rather than Dracula, the protagonist of many terrifying…
Bats, facts and fiction
Legend or fact? In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches…
-
Fish are champions migrators
Migratory fish are true athletes: some of them swim thousands of kilometres during their migration from their birthplace to the…
The thousand uses of lichens
Throughout history, humans have used lichens for a variety of purposes. The oldest evidence of lichen use dates back to…
-
Unusual vegetables
Distributed at all latitudes, lichens are able to conquer extreme biotopes, adapting to living in places where plants would find…
Watch out for aliens!
Italy has some new inhabitants, but that is no cause for celebration: the list of alien species is long. Two…
-
Plants and bacteria giving new "light" to off grid communities
"Planta lampara", a lamp powered by the energy produced thanks to the combination of plants and bacteria...
-
Vampire curiosities
A harmless vampire The bat, called common vampire bat, sucks blood, but rather than Dracula, the protagonist of many terrifying…
-
Bats, facts and fiction
Legend or fact? In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches…
-
Fish are champions migrators
Migratory fish are true athletes: some of them swim thousands of kilometres during their migration from their birthplace to the…
-
The thousand uses of lichens
Throughout history, humans have used lichens for a variety of purposes. The oldest evidence of lichen use dates back to…
-
Unusual vegetables
Distributed at all latitudes, lichens are able to conquer extreme biotopes, adapting to living in places where plants would find…
-
Watch out for aliens!
Italy has some new inhabitants, but that is no cause for celebration: the list of alien species is long. Two…
-
Plants and bacteria giving new "light" to off grid communities
"Planta lampara", a lamp powered by the energy produced thanks to the combination of plants and bacteria...