SWAYING IN THE STRESS

They tell the story of a biosphere that was created in Arizona in 1991, that was used to study the earth and its living systems. It was basically a giant dome containing trees, plants, and water features.

After this large biodome had been in use for a while, scientists learned something they weren’t expecting. The trees inside grew at an accelerated rate, but never reached full maturity before losing limbs or falling over. 

The reason for the trees falling over was that in nature trees develop something called “stress wood” which is basically the trees’ reaction to wind. 

Wind causes the limbs to sway and move, placing stress on the load-bearing parts of the tree. The tree develops this “stress wood” to compensate, making the tree stronger.

In this biodome, there was no wind and therefore the trees could not develop their stress wood and would collapse under their own weight.

Stress on the tree was necessary to keep it healthy and growing.

Stay calm in times of stress and grow from it.