This is the time of year when Nicole Hughes gets constantly distracted by the fall foliage as she drives around North Carolina. "I'm always looking," says Hughes, a biologist at High Point University.

As the outside world normally is around this time each November, things have changed a lot. Many trees are already devoid of leaves while others are still covered with colorful ones. When the ...

The red pigments in some fall leaves have proven to be a puzzle for researchers who debate why leaves bother to go red. Why do only some leaves turn red in the fall? Scientists can't agree on an ...