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Saturday 30 September 2006

Vampire Plant Selects Its Victims By Smell

The dodder plant resembles nothing so much as a vampire—at least in behaviour.

According to the NPR story Devious Dodder Vine Sniffs Out Its Victims, it smells the plant it wants to attach itself to (it prefers tomatoes to wheat, for example) and moves toward it.

Then, it becomes a parasite for life on the host:

Swarthmore College biology professor Colin Purrington says the vine starts out as just a tiny tendril with no roots or leaves. It then has about a week to find a host plant it can wrap itself around. The vampire-like dodder then sinks its fangs into its victim and starts drinking.

According to Wikipedia, it has a raft of folk names: “devil’s guts, devil’s hair, devil’s ringlet, goldthread, hailweed, hairweed, hellbine, love vine, pull-down, strangleweed, and witch’s hair.”

Via Mystery of the Haunted Vampire.

Posted by Amy as Science & Nature at 7:37 AM EDT

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Friday 29 September 2006

What Do Your Pets Do While You’re At Work?

Posted by Amy as Animals at 2:17 AM EDT

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Thursday 28 September 2006

Jazz Joke of the Day

Posted by Amy as Music, Humour at 1:12 AM EDT

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Wednesday 27 September 2006

Weird Band Names

Posted by Amy as Music at 1:05 AM EDT

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Tuesday 26 September 2006

Beautiful Fractal Art

Posted by Amy as Arts & Culture at 5:11 AM EDT

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Monday 25 September 2006

Wedding Dresses Through The Ages

Posted by Amy as History, Daily Life at 1:51 AM EDT

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Sunday 24 September 2006

Interview With George Takei

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Television & Movies at 12:10 PM EDT

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Saturday 23 September 2006

Which File Extension Are You?

Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 8:11 AM EDT

2 Comments »

Friday 22 September 2006

Photos of Whirling Dervishes

Posted by Amy as Photography, Religion & Spirituality at 1:28 AM EDT

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Thursday 21 September 2006

Skeletons in Underground Paris

Posted by Amy as Death, Unusual, Travel at 5:49 AM EDT

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Wednesday 20 September 2006

Some Strange Vehicles

Posted by Amy as Unusual at 1:42 AM EDT

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Tuesday 19 September 2006

Lots of Online Games

Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 2:13 AM EDT

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Monday 18 September 2006

How To Tell If The Science Is Fake

Posted by Amy as Science & Nature at 1:43 AM EDT

5 Comments »

Sunday 17 September 2006

Create Your Own McDonald’s Sign

Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 7:24 AM EDT

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Saturday 16 September 2006

Learning the Jargon At Starbucks

Posted by Amy as Food at 8:33 AM EDT

1 Comment »

Friday 15 September 2006

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 4:10 AM EDT

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Thursday 14 September 2006

Honest Automotive Taglines

Posted by Amy as Humour at 2:44 AM EDT

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Wednesday 13 September 2006

Five Things To Eat Before You Die

Posted by Amy as Food, Memes at 1:51 AM EDT

2 Comments »

Tuesday 12 September 2006

What’s Your Favourite Star Trek Episode?

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Television & Movies at 1:52 AM EDT

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Monday 11 September 2006

Developing Your Intuition

Posted by Amy as Psychology at 2:19 AM EDT

3 Comments »

Sunday 10 September 2006

Your Age and Weight On Other Worlds

Posted by Amy as Science & Nature at 6:19 PM EDT

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Saturday 9 September 2006

Family History Cache Found

Posted by Amy as History at 5:41 AM EDT

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Friday 8 September 2006

Which Nigerian Spammer Are You?

Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 8:20 AM EDT

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Thursday 7 September 2006

The Carnglaze Caverns

Posted by Amy as Travel at 2:19 AM EDT

2 Comments »

Wednesday 6 September 2006

Sheet Music from the 13th and 14th Centuries

Posted by Amy as Music, History at 2:45 AM EDT

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Tuesday 5 September 2006

The Random 5 Quotations Meme

Posted by Amy as Memes at 2:15 AM EDT

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Monday 4 September 2006

Peruvian Wonders Of the World: Nazca Lines

Posted by Amy as Unusual, Travel at 2:18 AM EDT

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Sunday 3 September 2006

The Top 75 Heroines of Speculative Fiction

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture at 2:39 AM EDT

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Saturday 2 September 2006

Photos of Pet Rabbits

Posted by Amy as Animals at 2:32 AM EDT

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Friday 1 September 2006

Information About Anchoresses

Posted by Amy as Religion & Spirituality, History at 4:45 AM EDT

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