Spring is with us – and there’s nothing quite like the joy of seeing the return of flowers springing up in gardens and parks all around us. You may not realise it but you are looking at blooms that have evolved through oceans of time. In fact, as paleobiologist Ruoulin Wu writes, flowers are so old that scientists can’t agree on a timeline for when they first evolved. There is fossil evidence of flowers stretching back more than 130 million years, – and studies that analyse DNA sequences now suggest they may have originated 200 million years ago. Just for comparison, the T Rex became extinct around 66 million years ago – along with most of the dinosaurs.

Now scientists are using a new, mathematical, approach to the debate – with interesting results. A study that used a statistical model to calculate the age of flowers suggests they may have evolved alongside the dinosaurs – they’ve just proved rather better at surviving. This article is the latest in our Plant Curious series, exploring scientific studies that challenge the way you view plant life

On the subject of things which have survived against the odds, music on vinyl is once again flourishing. A fact that hasn’t escaped the notice of record companies who are cashing in with endless (and expensive) collectors items.

Meanwhile scientists in the US and China are using silk to make body armour. It’s an idea that’s been more than 200 years in gestation.

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