Many factors must interact perfectly to disperse the seeds efficiently without destroying the plant too early.

The fluffy dandelion seed head infuriates gardeners, but delights physicists. That’s because those seeds may lend key insights into the physics of parachutes, useful for designing small drones ...

Introduction Have you ever looked outside on a windy day and seen "helicopter" seeds spinning through the air? Or picked up a dandelion and blown on it, sending the tiny, fluffy seeds flying all ...

Long haul flight: micro CT image of a dandelion seed with yellow false colour. (Courtesy: Madeleine Seale and Alice Macente) A brush-shaped structure called a pappus creates vortex rings that help ...

Dandelion dispersal greatly influences urban and rural ecosystems, and knowing how their flight respond to the environment helps us predict the effects of changing climate.

Dandelion dispersal greatly influences urban and rural ecosystems, and knowing how their flight respond to the environment helps us predict the effects of changing climate.

A look at the life cycle of a dandelion including wind-aided seed dispersal. Once fertilisation has taken place the plant will produce seeds. Plants such as dandelions often use wind to transport ...

Learn more about squirting cucumbers (Ecballium elaterium) and how their seeds explode out of them, which could lead to medical advancements.

Flower power: EPFL’s Pier Giuseppe Ledda (left) and François Gallaire with pappus simulations (Courtesy: Alain Herzog/EPFL) Scientists in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy have explained why the ...

When a dandelion seed takes flight, its downy fluff serves as a tiny parachute to carry it on the breeze. These parachutes are very different from the ones we use.

Unlike flying objects with wings, which relies on the pressure differential between the top and bottom side of the wing to sustain flight, the bristles on dandelion seeds form a little parachute and ...

A look at the life cycle of a dandelion including wind-aided seed dispersal. Once fertilisation has taken place the plant will produce seeds. Plants such as dandelions often use wind to transport ...