September 2025
The search for the world's loneliest plant
Deep in a forest in South Africa, a solitary male Wood's cycad, nicknamed "the world’s loneliest plant" due to its rarity, is surviving without a mate — and could be on the verge of disappearing forever. Artist and biologist Laura Cinti shares how she’s using drones and AI to scan vast forest canopies in search of a female partner, turning cutting-edge computer vision into a love story about extinction, biodiversity and our responsibility to other species.