New research into the biomechanics of explosive seed dispersal in squirting cucumbers (Ecballium elaterium) reveals how these plants have adapted a suite of unique traits that help propel their ...

OXFORD, England — In the Mediterranean countryside, gardeners have learned to approach a certain cucumber with caution. Not ...

Three summers ago, Kiel University biomechanist Stainslav Gorb, returned to Germany after a vacation in Turkey with a present for Ph.D. student Helen Gorges. "He came back and was like, 'Helen, I ...

"Ballistic seed dispersal" is not something you see often in plants – and for good reason, perhaps, when you see just what the affectionately called squirting cucumber is capable of. Shunning external ...

In tropical forests across Central and South America, a quiet tree hides one of the most violent forms of seed dispersal found in nature. Known to scientists as Hura crepitans and to locals as the ...