Most people are familiar with the notion that "tree rings" — the concentric bands visible on a cross-section of a tree's trunk — serve as an indicator of a tree's age. Researchers at the University of ...

This cross section of a sequoia in Yosemite National Park in California has markers identifying the dates of tree rings. Jared Farmer What and where are the oldest known trees on the planet? If you ...

Perhaps you’ve wandered through a forest or strolled into a neighborhood park and found tree trunks — and wondered if counting the rings on a trunk is truly a way to know the tree’s age. “Most of us ...