Articles for tag: cactus

Accordion Architecture: The Art of Expansion and Contraction

Cactus Logic: How Spines, Slime, and Shape Beat the Desert Heat

Annette Uy

Picture this: it’s 120°F in the Sonoran Desert, and while you’d be desperately searching for shade, a giant saguaro cactus stands tall, thriving in conditions that would send most plants into botanical shock. What if I told you that cacti have cracked the code to surviving Earth’s most brutal environments using engineering principles that would ...

The Cactus That Shoots Its Seeds Like Tiny Cannons

The Cactus That Shoots Its Seeds Like Tiny Cannons

Annette Uy

What if I told you there’s a plant out there that doesn’t just quietly drop its seeds to the ground, but explodes them outward with the force of a miniature cannon? The world of cacti is already full of surprises: spines instead of leaves, strange shapes, and a knack for surviving where almost nothing else ...