Category: Plant

Happy Week ‘o Nature!

~ mehopper

This is a busy week for nature lovers!

Wednesday, April 22nd is Earth Day, and Friday, April 24th is Arbor Day!

Of course, the typical way to celebrate is to attend events and plant trees.

My way of celebrating is to also update Cosma’s Nature pages.

Done! Links to the updated pages are below.

In the past I’ve also written posts for Earth Day.
Great Views of Earth
Perspectives on Earth

However, this year I decided to dust the cobwebs off of my Nature Center!

Click “doors” and objects to enter 360° experiences and “i”s for information about them.


You can also see it directly on Kuula.

Touch signs or use these links to enter Botanical Gardens Orangery, Hiking Trails Hall, Critter’s Hollow Refuge, and Natural History Museums).

Happy Earth Day and Arbor Day!

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Find out more about Earth Day and Arbor Day!

Earth Day (Official Site)
Earth Day 2026 Events (Official Site)
Earth Day Network (YouTube Channel)
Earth Day (Time & Date)
Earth Day (Wikipedia)

Arbor Day Foundation (Official Site)
Arbor Day Foundation (YouTube Channel)
Find an Arbor Day Celebration Near You (Celebrate Arbor Day)
Arbor Day (Time)
Arbor Day (Time & Date)
Arbor Day (Wikipedia)

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Find out more about Nature@Cosma …

Earth
Sphere Land, Ice, Water (Ocean), Air, Life (Cell, Gene)
Ecosystem Forest, Grassland, Desert, Arctic, Aquatic

Tree of Life
Microorganism Virus
Prokaryote Archaea, Bacteria
Eukaryote Protist, Fungi, Algae, Protozoa (Tardigrade)
Plant Flower, Tree
Animal
Invertebrate
Cnidaria Coral, Jellyfish
Cephalopod Cuttlefish, Octopus
Crustacean Lobster, Shrimp
Arachnid Spider, Scorpion
Insect Ant, Bee, Beetle, Butterfly
Vertebrate
Fish Seahorse, Ray, Shark
Amphibian Frog, Salamander
Reptile Turtle, Tortoise, Dinosaur
Bird Penguin, Ostrich, Owl, Crow, Parrot
Mammal Platypus, Bat, Mouse, Rabbit, Goat, Giraffe, Camel, Horse, Elephant, Mammoth
Walrus, Seal, Polar Bear, Bear, Panda, Cat, Tiger, Lion, Dog, Wolf
Cetacean Whale, Dolphin
Primate Monkey, Chimpanzee

Hike the Web

~ mehopper

Sunday, November 17th is National Hiking Day, and it’s one of my favorite “made up” holidays!

Here’s an inspirational video about it that includes a bit of nice history.

On This Day (YouTube Channel)
On This Day (Official Website)

Celebrating is easy — just take a hike, or a walk, if that’s more your speed.

The U.S. National Park Service maintains this handy map to help you find a place near you.

Find a Park Map (U.S. National Park Service)

Now, perhaps you are someone who needs a bit more inspiration than watching a video and clicking a link to find a park, or maybe you’re not in a position to take a hike or walk at all.

In that case, perhaps a “virtual” hike might help you celebrate. There are actually a surprising number of ways to take those on the Web.

For example, the U.S. National Park Service maintains a page for that, too.

Find Your “Virtual” Park (US National Park Service)

In addition, many of the parks’ websites have “Photos and Multimedia” pages that include “virtual” experiences. Here is an example from the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon Virtual Tours (US National Park Service)

There are also many 360° videos on YouTube that provide virtual visits to National Parks.

For example, Air Pano has made quite a few of them. Here are links to pages on their website for three of them. Their home page has a map where you can find more.

Grand Canyon National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park

Here’s another YouTube Channel with a long playlist of great videos.

National Parks Virtual Tours — 360° Immersive Travel Experiences (Odyssey Visual Media)

Of course, Google doesn’t just make it so that you can immerse yourself in YouTube videos — they are also behind Google Earth. Here’s their “virtual visit” to the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon (Google Earth)

There are also some neat custom made “virtual” experiences. Virtual Yosemite is an example. There is also a Virtual Yosemite Directory.

Finally, writing this post inspired me to create this 360° experience called Hiking Trails Hall.

Click the “doors” to enter 360° virtual parks and “i”s for information about them.

If you can’t see it, or it isn’t working, you can also see it directly on Kuula.

All of this nudged me to update the “nature” pages on Cosma. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I was inspired to create this entire Nature Center with three other spaces to explore in addition to Hiking Trails Hall. Again, click “doors” to enter 360° experiences, “i”s for information about them, and arrows to go to other areas of the Nature Center. Some objects also link to fun 360° experiences.

If you can’t see it, or it isn’t working, you can also see it directly on Kuula.

Enjoy & Happy Hiking!

Learn more about nature …

Forest Bathing?

~ mehopper

I just came across a new, perplexing phrase.

Forest bathing?

Ugh? What’s that? I want to know more!

It turns out that it’s a form of nature therapy that originated in Japan where it is known as Shinrin-yoku.

Here’s a link to a video I found about the practice.

Why You Should Try the Japanese Art of Forest Bathing (LifeHacker, YouTube)

That stress relief sounds good, but I don’t happen to have a forest handy 🙁

However, I did find this soothing 360˚ video of the Hokkaido forest.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

GALAXIID (YouTube Channel)
GALAXIID (Official Website)

Nice, I could use some more of that!

Of course, there are plenty of other videos like that on YouTube. For example, you might enjoy a 17 minute long 360˚ video of a relaxing walk in a Norwegian forest.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Real Virtual Movies (YouTube Channel)

In fact, writing this post inspired me to create this 360° experience called Hiking Trails Hall.

Click the “doors” to enter 360° virtual parks and “i”s for information about them.

You can also see it directly on Kuula.

Here’s the thing, though. As neat as 360˚ videos and experiences can be, they are no substitute for the real thing when it comes to physical activity. If you don’t happen to have ingredients for “forest bath” nearby (i. e. an actual bunch of trees), then just go for a regular walk, in the real world, as often as you can.

So get out there and get moving to stay healthy and less stressed, whether or not you happen to be lucky enough to have a forest 🙂

Find out more about forests, trees and nature in general…

Talented Greenery

~ mehopper

Note: This post was updated and reposted in honor of Arbor Day 2026!

Check out this minute long 360° video from Genesis Visual Studios.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Genesis Visual Studios (YouTube Channel)

Peaceful, isn’t it?

The bees are busily buzzing about, but the plants aren’t doing much, right?

Well, those plants are up to a LOT more than they look like they are in the video.

Now, you’re probably thinking, yeah, right.

They can move towards light, VERY slowly. Big whoop-d-doo!

Not so fast. There may be more to those Ents in The Lord of the Rings and the Tree of Souls in Avatar than you might expect.

For example, did you know that plants really do “warn” each other of danger?

Here’s a recent video and a couple of related articles about the skill.

Buzz60 (YouTube Channel)
Buzz60 (Facebook)

When Plants Cry Out for Help, Their Neighbors Start Screaming, Too (Kat Eschner, Popular Science)
Insect Herbivory Selects for Volatile-Mediated Plant-Plant Communication (Aino Kalske, Et al., Current Biology)

This is just the latest development in a long line of research about the talents of plants.

For example, in 2013 there was a PBS Nature special dedicated to “plant behavior” entitled What Plants Talk About. Since then, once or twice a year, the topic pops up in the media.


Here’s a video published in 2016 by Richard Karban on TED-Ed that gives a very nice summary of some of the research that’s made the news.

TED-Ed (YouTube Channel)
TED-Ed (Official Website)

You can find out more from Richard Karban’s accompanying TED-Ed Lesson and these sources upon which he says it was based.

How Trees Talk to Each Other (Suzanne Simard, TED Talk, YouTube)
Plant Sensing and Communication (Richard Karban, University of Chicago Press)
How Plants Secretly Talk to Each Other (Kat McGowan, Wired)
The Intelligent Plant: Scientists Debate a New Way of Understanding Flora (Michael Pollan, The New Yorker)

Here’s a recent video and article about the subterranean fungi network that’s now been dubbed the “wood wide web.”

BBC News (YouTube Channel)
BBC News (Official Website)

Wood Wide Web: The Underground Network of Microbes that Connects Trees—Mapped for First Time (Gabriel Popkin, Science Magazine)

So plants can talk, trade and wage war.

That’s nice, but that doesn’t make them all that talented, right?

Well, believe it or not, with a bit of help from their friends, plants can “sing” too, and that shard of news is what actually inspired this very post!

This week I came across a device on Kickstarter from Data Garden that’s called PlantWave, and it’s designed to let you “listen to the music” of plants!

Here’s their two minute promotional video.

PlantWave (YouTube Channel)
PlantWave (Official Website)

Here’s a story with more background.

Let Your Plants Play Music, and Gardens of Sound Will Bloom (Arielle Pardes, Wired)

Of course, now that you know that plants can even “sing,” then it’s only fair to mention that, with a tad more help from their human friends, they can also dance!

Here’s a video of some doing a ballet to Chopin’s Mazurkas, Op. 67.

Mirela Athanas, ClairDeLune25 (YouTube Channel)

If you like that, then you will probably enjoy this extremely relaxing seven minute long video of flowers dancing to, appropriately enough, Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers.

Mirela Athanas, ClairDeLune25 (YouTube Channel)

So there you have it — the next time you’re surrounded by plants, even if you can’t actually hear them talk and sing or watch them move or dance right then and there, perhaps it may not seem “quite” so quiet 🙂

Here are some further resources about the many “talents” of plants.

Do Trees Talk to Each Other? (Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine)
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate (Peter Wohlleben)

Have a great weekend!

Find out more about plants, trees and flowers …

Arbornautics

~ mehopper

Traditional news stories usually cover a single subject or the straightforward relationship between two subjects. However, every once in awhile, a story comes along that crams a deceptive number of subjects and interesting relationships into a tiny space. Exploring stories like that can be an adventure. Here’s a link to a wonderful, five minute video that’s like that.

What Tardigrades Can Teach Us About Life in the Rainforest (Seeker, YouTube)

One of my favorite parts of the clip was the analogy about the rainforest as a system.

In an airplane, there are a lot of redundant screws. Maybe you don’t need every single one to fly the plane, but at some point, if they keep dropping off of the machine, it’s not going to work anymore.

Nicely said. So now, let’s unpack the story.

The most obvious thing to do is find out more about the main character in the story, Dr. Meg Lowman. It turns out she is widely known as “Canopy Meg,” she also bills herself as an “Arbornaut,” and she’s been involved in some “interesting” research.

Here’s a clip that shows more about how she was involved with some researchers who explored the canopy using hot air balloons and, incredibly, a luge. Yes, a sled, and even more oddly, they also used a raft! It’s hard to imagine — you’ve got to watch it!

CanopyMeg Lowman (YouTube Channel)
CanopyMeg Lowman (Official Website)

I couldn’t help but wonder if Canopy Meg’s experiences in the Amazon served as the basis for Medicine Man with Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco. If you’ve never seen it, then here’s a trailer about the scientific side of the plot.

Medicine Man Trailer (YouTube)

As it turns out, Medicine Man doesn’t appear to be based upon Canopy Meg. Instead, it may have been based upon a man named Dr. Henry Ferguson.

Doctor Sues the Makers of Medicine Man (Terry Pristin, LA Times)

Trying to understand more about what Ferguson and his colleagues were doing, as well as what Canopy Meg mentioned about pharmaceuticals in the first clip, led to an unexpected detour into Ethnobotany, Ethnobiology, Ethnomedicine and Ethnopharmacology.

It turns out there are tons of articles about these subjects out there.
Ethnobotany (bioRxiv), Ethnobotany (JSTOR)
Ethnobiology (bioRxiv), Ethnobiology (JSTOR)
Ethnopharmacology (bioRxiv), Ethnopharmacology (JSTOR)
Ethnomedicine (bioRxiv), Ethnomedicine (JSTOR)

There’s even a whole Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. It can be interesting reading if you’ve got an appropriate scientific background.

Along the way, while looking for media about the rainforest, I found this 360° video.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Conservation International (YouTube Channel)
Conservation International (Official Website)

This shorter, non-360°, “behind the scenes” is even more interesting.

Conservation International (YouTube Channel)
Conservation International (Official Website)

Finally, what about those “cute” little water bears that Canopy Meg mentioned? Well, they may or may not be all that cute, but they sure are tough little buggers.

Scripps News (YouTube Channel)
Scripps News (Official Website)

They’re SO fascinating, I decided to create a whole new page dedicated to water bears.

Maybe water bears aren’t so “cute” afterall, but if you want to see something really cute, then be sure to check out this absolutely adorable little video from David Williams.

Big Word Club (YouTube Channel)
Big Word Club (Official Website)

Find out more about Arbornauts at the Tree Foundation …

Find out more about forests, trees, water bears, microorganisms, life and nature in general on Cosma …