A study published today in the journal Nature notes that trees not only don't slow down as they age, like their human counterparts do, but actually accelerate in their growth. "This finding contradicts the usual assumption that tree growth eventually declines as trees get older and bigger," said Nate Stephenson, the study's lead author and a forest ecologist with the United States Geologic Survey's Western Ecological Research Center. "It also means that big, old trees are better at absorbing carbon from the atmosphere than has been commonly assumed."
