After 1,200 years, cherry blossom record to live on despite Japanese scientist’s death

Prof Yasuyuki Aono’s meticulous work charted shifting bloom dates as a marker of climate change Even in his final months, he counted the days until the cherry blossoms. Prof Yasuyuki Aono of Osaka Metropolitan University spent his career gathering data on the spring flowering dates of cherry trees in Japan in what is one of the world’s longest climate records tracking a seasonal occurrence. Using sources dating as far back as the 9th century, he revealed that cherry tree flowerings have occur...

By Chris Baraniuk