Feedback is 麻豆传媒鈥檚 popular sideways look at the latest science and technology news. You can submit items you believe may amuse readers to Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com
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Astreenomers
Feedback is shocked 鈥� shocked 鈥� to learn that a grove of trees in northern Italy did not, in fact, predict a solar eclipse.
Now, we know what will be going through most readers鈥� heads at this point: 鈥淎re you saying somebody thought trees really could predict a solar eclipse?鈥� To which the answer is 鈥渟urprisingly, yes鈥�.
The partial solar eclipse in question occurred on 25 October 2022. Ahead of this, botanists led by Alessandro Chiolerio had inserted electrodes into Norway spruce trees to monitor their bioelectrical activity. In April 2025, they their findings: 鈥淭rees anticipated the eclipse, synchronizing their bioelectrical behaviour hours in advance. Older trees displayed greater anticipatory behaviour with early time-asymmetry and entropy increases.鈥�
With graceful inevitability, here comes the debunking, in Trends in Plant Science on and flagged to us by reporter Matthew Sparkes (who should get some sort of honorarium for the number of items he has contributed to Feedback).
Authors Ariel Novoplansky and Hezi Yizhaq point out that the drop in sunlight during the partial eclipse was too small to affect the trees: their leaves were still saturated with sunlight. Furthermore, eclipses of this type recur on a cycle of just over 18 years. The oldest trees in the study were about 70 years old, so they could only have lived through three, which doesn鈥檛 seem like enough to have learned the pattern, especially since eclipses take different paths over Earth鈥檚 surface.
Feedback has read the original study and we aren鈥檛 sure it was necessary to go this in-depth to debunk it. The team only wired up three trees and five stumps. Size isn鈥檛 everything, but sample size does matter.
Also, there is a lengthy section in the paper about 鈥淨uantum field theory theoretical analysis鈥�. Yes, it鈥檚 the Q-word! 鈥淭rees are open, and hence dissipative, systems, continuously exchanging (releasing and receiving) matter and energy in various forms with their environment,鈥� it explains. 鈥淢oreover, they are aging systems, the origin in the time of their life cannot be moved and their time evolution (the arrow of time) cannot be inverted鈥︹�� There is a lot more, but after the first paragraph Feedback felt ourselves leaping quantumly into a state of not wanting to read any more.
Still, there is the coincidence of the trees鈥� electrical activities syncing up in the 14 hours before the eclipse. How can we explain this? Novoplansky and Yizhaq have a suggestion. 鈥淎 total of 664 lightning strikes occurred from October 22 to 25, 2022,鈥� they write. That includes three strikes within 10 kilometres of the site and within the 14 hours prior to the eclipse. Maybe that had something to do with it.
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Don鈥檛 spill
Continuing our themes of 鈥減eople foolishly send us press releases鈥� and 鈥渢hey would say that, wouldn鈥檛 they鈥�, Feedback has been told some excellent news about tea.
鈥淭he latest scientific research reveals that drinking a cup of tea daily benefits the heart, as well as growing evidence to support cholesterol levels, blood pressure, inflammation and blood clotting,鈥� it seems. This is positive news for Feedback, as we consume rather a lot of tea, and even better for Mrs Feedback, whose bloodstream is about 70 per cent tea.
Who are the bearers of these beneficent tidings? Why, the , of course. Feedback wasn鈥檛 previously aware of the Tea Advisory Panel, but its website informs us it is 鈥渟upported by an [sic] restricted educational grant from the UK TEA & INFUSIONS ASSOCIATION, the trade association for the UK tea industry鈥�. The panel exists 鈥渢o provide media with impartial information regarding the health benefits of tea鈥�.
Hence the statements that conclude the press release: 鈥淧revious research has shown that the sweet spot is four cups of tea a day鈥� Yet, only a third of Brits (35%) said they drank three to four cups of tea a day 鈥� Therefore, our challenge as tea experts and nutrition scientists is to ensure the message about the heart health benefits of tea is clearly communicated to the general public.鈥� Feedback would say more, but we really fancy an espresso.
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Universal and free
In our ongoing quest to find the best and worst examples of technical acronyms, Feedback came across a delightful initiative started by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.
The basic idea is simple enough. There are an awful lot of construction-based toys, from Lego to Stickle Bricks. However, they aren鈥檛 interoperable: with a few exceptions, you can鈥檛 connect pieces from two different systems.
Hence Golan Levin and Shawn Sims鈥檚 decision to create open-source 3D-printable adapters, which can join the parts from different construction systems. If you have a 3D printer, you can download the designs for free and make your own chimeric toys.
It鈥檚 all rather lovely. The explain that their purpose was to enable 鈥渞adically hybrid constructive play, the creation of previously impossible designs, and ultimately, more creative opportunities for kids鈥�, providing 鈥渁 public service unmet 鈥� or unmeetable 鈥� by corporate interests鈥�.
It seems to Feedback that this kit deserves to be widely used. However, we suspect its appeal to parents is somewhat limited by the creators鈥� decision to call it the Free Universal Construction Kit.
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