Multimedia Gallery
White-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata) pollinating a pale evening primrose flower
Nighttime pollinators like the white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata), seen here pollinating a pale evening primrose flower, rely on scent-based cues to locate flowers. Researchers discovered that nighttime pollution creates a chain of chemical reactions that degrades scent cues, leaving flowers like the evening primrose undetectable by smell.
[Research supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grants IOS 2121935 and AGS 2202287.]
Learn more in the University of Washington news story Novel 4D printing method blossoms from botanical inspiration. (Date of image: 2022; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: May 3, 2024)
Credit: Courtesy of Ron Wolf
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