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A study in the journal Plant Biology by researchers from Macquarie University and international collaborators has shown for the first time that reuse resources from wilting flowers to support future reproduction.

Lead author Honorary Professor Graham Pyke from Macquarie University says the findings help explain a common but poorly understood plant process.

“Our research delivers the first direct demonstration that plants can salvage resources from wilting flowers and reuse these resources to promote future reproduction,” Professor Pyke says.

Cratons are fascinating yet enigmatic geological formations. Known to be relatively stable portions of the Earth’s continental crust, cratons have remained largely unchanged for billions of years. Although cratons have survived many geological events, some are undergoing decratonization—a process characterized by their deformation and eventual destruction.

The fastest animal on land is the cheetah, capable of reaching top speeds of 104 kilometers per hour. In the water, the fastest animals are yellowfin tuna and wahoo, which can reach speeds of 75 and 77 km per hour respectively. In the air, the title of the fastest level flight (excluding diving) goes to the white-throated needletail swift, at more than 112 km per hour.

The theory of special relativity is rife with counterintuitive and surprising effects, the most famous of which are length contraction and time dilation. If an object travels at a relative speed, which is a non-negligible fraction of the speed of light, with respect to an observer, the length of the object in the travel direction will appear shorter to the observer than it actually is in the object’s rest frame.