Science

Features

This image is reprinted from Wysocka et al. (2025; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14071003) under this license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and is not associated with the research discussed below.

Modern wheat classes converge in grain mineral nutrition—and that’s not great news

April 21, 2025

Science explained

These weeds were correctly identified by students 97% of the time in a study in Natural Sciences Education. Top (l to r): milkweed and bird vetch. Bottom (l to r): common purslane and broadleaf plantain.

Teaching agriculture students how to spot and identify weeds

April 16, 2025

In a Natural Sciences Education study, students used a microcontroller called Arduino UNO to turn on a pair of lights in sequence. This image is the prototype used in developing ChatGPT-generated Arduino programs.

AI and agriculture—how undergrads are exploring new frontiers

April 16, 2025

Sensor that allows for real-time measurement of soil temperature and organic matter within the planting furrow. Photo by Alexander Lindsey.

Sensors make sense for scientific research

April 14, 2025

Science briefs

Map of saturated hydraulic conductivity at a 5-cm depth for the contiguous United States. This map shows large-scale variation with high conductivities on coarse materials (orange-red, such as Florida, mountains, glacial sediments) and low conductivities on the fine sediments in the U.S. interior (blue). Actual map holds 49,810 × 31,390 pixels (West–East × North–South) at 100-m resolution. Image by Marcel G. Schapp, Yonggen Zhang, and Craig Rasmussen.

Soil hydraulic property mapping with AI and high-performance computing

April 16, 2025

Soybean growth, development, and subsequent yield can be impacted by soil quality. This photo highlights the fragile period after germination to help illustrate this relationship. Photo by Lindsay Chamberlain Malone.

Soybean yield is positively linked to organic matter, but planting date remains more influential

April 16, 2025

Panicles from field-grown rice germplasm CS272, one of the three lines developed in this study, in Arkansas. Photo by Heather Box.

Three new and improved long-grain rice germplasm lines

April 16, 2025

A drainage ditch leading from an industrial hog farm in southeastern North Carolina. Photo by Adam Chaffin.

Industrial animal agriculture causes widespread nutrient pollution in North Carolina

April 15, 2025

Site-specific management zones of actual evapotranspiration and turfgrass quality at Eagle Lake Golf Course in Roy, UT and histograms of the four natural break classes (1-4) of estimated TQ. Blue lines identify the fairway, greens, and tee boundaries and red dots identify sprinkler heads. Image by Karem Meza.

Site-specific irrigation and turfgrass quality using UAS imagery

April 15, 2025

Monthly trends in grazing land condition ratings (measured as the CCIndex) over the 1995–2022 period. Browns represent declining grazing land conditions while greens represent improving conditions. Hatching is statistical significance at the 95% confidence level. Image adapted from Bundy et al. (2025).

Grazing land degradation on the rise

April 15, 2025