Natural History Wanderings

ScienceDaily reported

From toddlers in daycare to seedlings in forests, young organisms tend to get sick more easily than adults — a phenomenon that has long puzzled parents and scientists alike.

University of Maryland biologists offer new insights into this mysteriously universal pattern in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 4, 2025. The new study on baby plants shows that fighting disease at a young age often comes at a steep cost to growth and future evolutionary fitness — or their ability to reproduce.

Read on www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/04/250404201343.htm