This adorable little robot is designed to make sure its
photosynthesising passenger is well taken care of. It moves towards
brighter light if it needs, or hides in the shade to keep cool. When in
the light, it rotates to make sure the plant gets plenty of light. It
even likes to play with humans.

Oh, and apparently, it gets antsy when it’s thirsty.

The robot is actually an art project called “Sharing Human Technology with Plants” by a roboticist named Sun Tianqi. It’s made from a modified version of a Vincross HEXA robot, and in his own words, it’s purpose is “to explore the relationship between living beings and robots.”

Stripes of wildflowers across farm fields could cut pesticide spraying

Long strips of bright wildflowers are being planted through crop
fields to boost the natural predators of pests and potentially cut
pesticide spraying.

The strips were planted on 15 large arable farms in central and
eastern England last autumn and will be monitored for five years, as
part of a trial run by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).

Concern over the environmental damage caused by pesticides has grown
rapidly in recent years. Using wildflower margins to support insects
including hoverflies, parasitic wasps and ground beetles has been shown
to slash pest numbers in crops and even increase yields.

INDIA. Jammu and Kashmir. Srinagar.
1999. Saffron harvesting. An acre yeilds only a few pounds of the
world’s most costly spice. Lush fields and placid lakes once drew more
than half a million visitors a year, but civil unrest has shattered
Kashmir’s calm and left tourism in shambles. By Steve McCurry