Fringey Mini: Aorticulture

Journey to the Fringe · Feb 18, 2026 · 8m · transcript

A tidy little lawn turns out to be a tiny green menace in this mini, where UC Davis researchers accidentally stumble into a botanical plot twist: trees soothe your heart, but grass might be quietly stressing it out. Using hundreds of millions of street‑view images and a cohort of nurses, the study hints that leafy canopies act like urban guardians while manicured turf behaves more like a petty saboteur. We’re spiraling delightfully through pesticides, lawnmower fumes, gendered yard work, and the existential question of whether your cardiologist should prescribe “plant a tree” instead of “take…