Last Friday's (or the one before?) Science Friday NPR podcast interviews author Michael Pollan and discusses the new and controversial field of 'plant neurobiology." I know what you're thinking - that this sounds hokey! Plants don't have a brain, or neurons. Instead, they use their sensory data to adjust their responses to the environment. You could even say they have behavior when they move one of their roots, or release a chemical.
A benefit to not having a brain is that when a plant is eaten, it doesn't die. It can resprout and stay alive.
Plants can also remember things, such as a stimuli being repetitively tested, and change their response over time.
I can't believe that plants can apparently hear - if you play caterpillar munching sounds to a plant, it can start increasing its defensive compounds without being eaten at all! (Disclaimer: I was not able to find the scientific study in a Web of Science and Google search, but Pollan said it was done by Heidi Appel, a chemical ecologist at the University of Missouri).
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/01/03/2014/can-plants-think.html
I didn't read through Pollan's article in the New Yorker yet, but if you prefer to read, and have time to read 11 pages, then here it is. I believe it has more information on scientists and their studies if you want to find some of these sources on your own (and if you do, please sha
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/23/131223fa_fact_pollan
A benefit to not having a brain is that when a plant is eaten, it doesn't die. It can resprout and stay alive.
Plants can also remember things, such as a stimuli being repetitively tested, and change their response over time.
I can't believe that plants can apparently hear - if you play caterpillar munching sounds to a plant, it can start increasing its defensive compounds without being eaten at all! (Disclaimer: I was not able to find the scientific study in a Web of Science and Google search, but Pollan said it was done by Heidi Appel, a chemical ecologist at the University of Missouri).
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/01/03/2014/can-plants-think.html
I didn't read through Pollan's article in the New Yorker yet, but if you prefer to read, and have time to read 11 pages, then here it is. I believe it has more information on scientists and their studies if you want to find some of these sources on your own (and if you do, please sha
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/23/131223fa_fact_pollan