01.01.70

When Yale University paleontologist Nicholas Longrich began studying a prehistoric bird called Archaeopteryx, he noticed something unexpected.

For starters, the bird had small feathers on its hind legs. When he began doing a feather-by-feather reconstruction of its wings, working from a fossil in Germany, he found it didn’t look like a modern bird at all. Instead of the single layer of feathers that give modern birds their dextrous flight abilities, the fossil appeared to have layers of feathers stacked on top of each other, almost like two-ply tissues.

“I realized you couldn’t really get from what the fossils showed to the way people were drawing it,” Longrich said.

His painstaking study of the Archaeopteryx fossil suggested to Longrich that this Jurassic-era bird had a primitive wing, and may not have been very good at flying. But instead of publishing his observation, he decided to sit on it. He wasn’t sure that his colleagues would be convinced; it might have been something strange about the way the specimen he was studying was fossilized.

Source: Boston Globe

by italirican2003

I cannot recommend a book but maybe a strategy.
I cannot over emphasize the importance of a good grounding in the basic sciences of plants - how they are structured, how they obtain and process nutrients, how they develop etc. 
Then there is soil - physical and chemical properties.
Simultaneously  it is necessary to build a knowledge base of plant groups , and ultimately, individual plants, by practice and familiarity.
Allow me to share a rueful experience. The ZZ plant was identified to me as Zamia and I mentally grouped it with the 'Cardboard palm'! What a boo boo!!
I was fortunate to obtain the science long ago and far away. Half way through my  working life I emigrated and did a "crash course" on the unfamiliar plants and even more unfamiliar, potting media. It was time and money well spent.
Above all, nothing trumps keeping up to date....

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by Mikey Zhong

Spectrum Editor Stephen Snowder Daily Editors Monday: Darron Kinney Tuesday: Mrinal Mohanka Wednesday: Rebekah Mays Thursday: Samantha Henderson Friday: Sandya Sankarram Weekend Editors Sara Garner Deputy Editors Opinion: Grace Bickers A&E: Joseph Pomp Sports: Myles Simmons Copy Staff Nicole Santoro Caroline Lange Srishti Goel Antonia Blue-Hitchens Cynthia Wang Bea Masters Emily Neil

Source: Science & Humor: Soil moisture, poo, high school dropouts, and ...