A famous book from the 70s called The Secret Life of Plants says that plants are conscious and even have a preference for music. In one research study, plants exposed to Mozart were healthier and grew faster than plants exposed to Jimi Hendrix. Some say these studies that claim plants have a taste for music are full of holes. But there is growing research on plant intelligence and plant communication.
Plants don’t have brains, so they can’t think in the same way as humans. But they can perceive their surroundings. They can even communicate this information to nearby plants.
Cabbages recognize some types of danger and convey this to other nearby cabbages. Researchers in England cut the leaves of cabbages with scissors. The threatened cabbages then produced a toxic gas that protects them from certain insects. Strangely, the uncut cabbages nearby also began to give off a toxic gas. The healthy cabbages seemed to be reacting to a heads up from their cabbage neighbors.
Pea plants have also kept their plant neighbors in the loop when in danger. Pea plants are known to close their pores to protect themselves during periods of low rainfall. Researchers in Israel gave water to some pea plants, but didn’t give any water to others. As they expected, the dry pea plants closed their pores, but they weren’t the only ones. The nearby pea plants that had plenty of water also closed their pores. The researchers believe that the pea plants were communicating with their neighbors through their roots.
Some plants communicate with sound. Of course, plants don’t have ears, but some scientists think they can feel vibrations. Italian scientist Dr. Gagliano recorded clicking noises produced by corn seedlings. She then placed these seedlings in water and played them similar sounds. Curiously, the corn seedlings grew towards the loudspeakers. Gagliano also demonstrated that plants will grow towards the sound of water even when it is only an mp3 recording.
There is no doubt that plants are sensing their environment and communicating this with their plant neighbors. Whether or not there is an intention to communicate is still up in the air. Whatever the case, plants are stranger and more wonderful than we can imagine.
References:
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/smarty-plants
https://theconversation.com/pavlovs-plants-new-study-shows-plants-can-learn-from-experience-69794
A famous book from the 70s called The Secret Life of Plants says that plants are conscious. They even enjoy music. In one study, plants that were played Mozart were healthier and grew faster than plants that were played Jimi Hendrix. Some think these studies that say plants have a taste for music are full of holes. But there is growing interest in plant intelligence and plant communication.
Plants don’t have brains. They can’t think in the same way as humans. But they can sense their environment. They can even communicate with nearby plants.
Cabbages recognize some types of danger and communicate this to other nearby cabbages. Researchers in England cut the leaves of cabbages. The threatened cabbages produced a toxic gas. This gas protects them from some insects. Strangely, the uncut cabbages nearby also began to give off a toxic gas. The healthy cabbages seemed to be reacting to a heads up from their neighbors.
Pea plants have also kept their plant neighbors in the loop when in danger. They close their pores to protect themselves when there is less rain. Researchers in Israel gave water to some pea plants but didn’t give any water to others. As they expected, the dry plants closed their pores, but they weren’t the only ones. The nearby pea plants that had plenty of water also closed their pores. The researchers believe that the plants were communicating through their roots.
Some plants communicate with sound. Of course, plants don’t have ears. Some scientists think they can feel vibrations. Italian scientist Dr. Gagliano recorded clicking noises made by corn seedlings. She then placed these seedlings in water and played them similar sounds. The corn seedlings then grew towards the speakers. Gagliano also showed that plants will grow towards the sound of water. This is true even when it is only an mp3 recording of water.
There is no doubt that plants are sensing their environment. And they are communicating this with their plant neighbors. Whether or not there is an intention to communicate is still up in the air. Whatever the case, plants are stranger and more wonderful than we can imagine.
References:
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/smarty-plants
https://theconversation.com/pavlovs-plants-new-study-shows-plants-can-learn-from-experience-69794
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