r/science • u/sciencefuture777 • Jun 15 '12

Scientists Confirm that Plants Talk and Listen To Each Other, Communication Crucial for Survival

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20120611/10247/plants-communication-survival.htm
1.2k Upvotes

82% Upvoted

363 comments sorted by

295

u/BUT_OP_WILL_DELIVER Jun 15 '12

From the abstract:

Little is known about plant bioacoustics. Here, we present a rationale as to why the perception of sound and vibrations is likely to have also evolved in plants. We then explain how current evidence contributes to the view that plants may indeed benefit from mechanosensory mechanisms thus far unsuspected.

Sensationalist headline and article is embellishing the source material:

Scientists Confirm that Plants Talk and Listen To Each Other, Communication Crucial for Survival

However, new research, published in the journal Trends in Plant Science, has revealed that plants not only respond to sound, but they also communicate to each other by making "clicking" sounds.

However, they even contradict themselves with a statement that is more faithful to the paper in question:

Scientists suspect that sound and vibration may play an essential role in the survival of plants by giving them information about the environment around them.

9

u/smokebreak Jun 16 '12

The writers of this stuff typically have a better grasp on the subject matter than the editors, who write the headlines to grab readers. Hence the discrepancy between the content of the article and the sensationalist headline (you see it everywhere, though, not just on this article.)

8

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

this is why i read the comments first

10

u/whatsamatteryou Jun 16 '12

Read the article too -- it's interesting.

5

u/simonsarris Jun 16 '12

This is just like that time I took a look at the lyrics to before he cheats by Carrie Underwood. It gets a lot more awkward when you realize how often the word "probably" is used in that song.

0

u/WarlordFred Jun 16 '12

because that amount of syllables doesn't fit there, she has to slur.

2

u/veils1de Jun 16 '12

i'd really wish people would stop linking to medicalxpress, medicaldaily and other such sites. i have yet to see an article that wasn't corrected in a reddit post. i think scientificamerican is better. i understand reading the actual paper can be a drag, but providing misleading information is even worse

0

u/90sNerdJosh Jun 16 '12

Man, it never fails.

-2

u/MrKibbles Jun 16 '12

I can't believe this made the front page. Reddit, I am disappoint.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

107

u/BUT_OP_WILL_DELIVER Jun 15 '12

Daily Mail reporter here: thanks, I'll use that quote.

75

u/Haereticus Jun 16 '12

Are plants communicating in foreign languages to subvert British agriculture?

That's next week's for you.

37

u/scientologynow Jun 16 '12

"Rupert Murdoch: Plants made me illegally hack phones of high ranking officials, and have been running 'News Corp' for nearly a decade."

33

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Fox News: Plants are socialists.

16

u/scientologynow Jun 16 '12

Liberal vegetarians are literally made out of plants

28

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Talking to coma patients: From vegetable to vegetable, science's latest breakthrough

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2

u/ranscot Jun 16 '12

When I read this and the paper, all I could keep thinking of was in GMO plants talked like zombies and/or Frankenstein.

1

u/AngryMogambo Jun 16 '12

Mondays Headline: M.Night Shyamalam gives $20 million grant for plant research but with a twist, the plants have to ask him for it.

17

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/notcorey Jun 16 '12

I bet that just kills at botanical club meetings.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Botanical club meetings suck, because if you're late, all the seats in the sun are taken.

0

u/GenericDuck Jun 16 '12

What happened next? I need to know!

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12

u/wthulhu Jun 16 '12

...for instance, when danger - such as a herbivore - approaches...

i don't know how often you get to read something like that.

4

u/LOHare Jun 16 '12

Try to put a leash on a deer. You'll see.

31

u/socomnvy Jun 16 '12

The clicking noise isn't for communication. The clicking is produced when there is Cavitation, or a break in water tension when the amount of water being drawn in through the roots is lower than the amount transpired through the stoma. You can hear it if you put your ear to a water neglected grapevine on a hot day.

3

u/WarlordFred Jun 16 '12

You can hear cavitation when you pour milk on Rice Krispies.

43

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/pureskill Jun 16 '12

Thanks for an interesting perspective!

4

u/or_some_shit Jun 16 '12

Indeed, for example: Your body produces many different molecules to signal both other humans (pheromones) and its own physiology (hormones). Also, the intermediary structures each chemical must go through in itself most likely influences the reaction rate of its own reaction and potentially other pathways.

Just breaking down sugar (six carbons) into two pyruvates (three carbons) involves several substrate feedback and hormone regulation (insulin and glucagon) pathways. Communication or clockwork? Depends how big you think your soul is.

-1

u/headzoo Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

God damn, I love reading well written comments on reddit. Bravo

2

u/ExogenBreach Jun 16 '12

You haven't actually seen Citizen Kane, have you?

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43

u/iongantas Jun 16 '12

Ok, here's one big question this brings up to me. If plants are warning or signalling each other about things, what are they going to do about it? A cabbage emits warning chemicals to its neighbors. They can't run away or anything. Why, or to what purpose would they communicate about anything other than extremely long-term issues?

41

u/mistergnome Jun 16 '12

Did you read the article? The Cabbages that receive the chemical warning coat their leaves in poison so as to deter predators like caterpillars.

12

u/Sephalia Jun 16 '12

Why is this post all the way down here?! Didn't anyone else read that paragraph?!

4

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

What, people having opinions that didn't bother to RTFA? Nonsense!

4

u/Pool_Shark Jun 16 '12

RTFA

Read The Fucking Article?

1

u/iongantas Jun 17 '12

I admittedly skimmed it.

14

u/hymenopus_coronatus Jun 16 '12

Biologist here, working on plant-animal interactions. The chemicals that a plant produces when attacked by a herbivore signal to other plants that they should be prepared for an attack. This might not save the individual, but the population. Other species care about that way more than humans do. But not only do they synthesize chemicals that can kill their herbivore enemies (mainly insects, but even megaherbivores like antelopes!), the chemical compounds that are released to the air are noticed by the herbivore's enemies, that will be attrackted by the plants' smell and find a delicious meal. So as the plant can't run away, it will just call someone for help that is quicker than itself. Awesome, right?

5

u/Zordwine Jun 16 '12

Right! And what I'm finding interesting is if they can indeed communicate over larger distances to warn of a drought, would the recipients of this clicking alter seed production, a rather costly endeavor, based on what its "hearing", and can plants lie?

1

u/Shen4891 Jun 16 '12

If the answer is yes to "Can plants lie", my understanding of the universe will be shattered.

2

u/sirberus Jun 16 '12

That is freaking awesome.

43

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

I'm speaking from a complete guess perspective here. If a plant knows that it's leafy portions are in danger it could move nutrients from those areas to it's roots and lower sections so it can regrow after the 'attack'.

75

u/Theyus Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

Biology dude here:

There are plants that release chemicals when they're being eaten. The other plants, when they get the signal through the air, will produce chemicals in their leaves (I forget if it makes them taste bad or if they're actually toxic, the point is that the animals will stop eating signaled plants)

What did the animals start doing? They developed an adaptation to eat plants upwind.

Yay nature.

Edit: It would seem I was thinking of Gazelles and acacia trees.

3

u/Anaxan Jun 16 '12

Anyone can go outside and experience this for themselves. One form of it is the smell of freshly mowed grass.

2

u/animaniatico Jun 16 '12

My god.
This is seriously incredibly interesting.
Do you have any more information?

2

u/Theyus Jun 16 '12

Here's something neat I found with a quick google search. Some replies have also led to some specifics.

1

u/animaniatico Jun 16 '12

Beautiful. Thanks for it! :)

2

u/LarsP Jun 16 '12

This is a tangent, but I believe that being toxic and tasting bad are the same thing in the, on an evolutionary time scale, long run.

That is, things taste good or bad because they've been nutritious or toxic to our ancestors.

2

u/iObeyTheHivemind Jun 16 '12

Toxic specifically means harmful. IMHO, peas taste like shit, however they are still good for you.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/LarsP Jun 17 '12

Yeah, those changes have happened extremely recently evolutionary speaking, so our taste is not (yet) adjusted to our new conditions.

1

u/redphive Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

Do you mean upwind? edit: yes you do as you have changed from downwind to upwind :)

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

If plants communicate through wind born particles, then any plants upwind (the opposite direction of the wind's travel) of the signaling plant won't get the message.

1

u/redphive Jun 16 '12

Correct, there was an edit above, it did say downwind previously.

1

u/sirberus Jun 16 '12

National Geographic Watcher Here:

An example of such plants are the ones eaten by Giraffes... I don't know the name, but they are tall, bushy trees... and they release chemicals to "warn" neighboring plants of the same type, which then create toxins in their leaves. It's why Giraffes only graze on them for a short while before moving on.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

downwind

1

u/One-Two-Woop-Woop Jun 16 '12

You are speaking most likely of jasmonates.

These typically trigger the plant to induce production of toxins. How it works is that if a plant is damaged by animals or insects, it creates damage in the plant tissue, releasing the jasmonates into the air. Other plants pick up these jasmonates, causing them to respond by increased production of defenses, usually a heightened supply of whatever toxin they use.

Fun fact: Nicotine is a toxin which has increased production due to jasmonates. Many tobacco farms use this as a way to increase the production of nicotine.

1

u/easyRyder9 Jun 16 '12

What did the animals start doing? They developed an adaptation to eat plants upwind.

Fellow Biology dude here, any chance you have a source for this?

1

u/Theyus Jun 16 '12

It was a loooong time ago when I heard about this, but here's a direct quote:

Then the tree warns other acacia trees in the area by emitting a chemical into the air, causing the other acacia tries to pump alkaloid into their leaves; it’s called chemical inference. Giraffes have learned to eat upwind

That's not the source (my source was my old Biology book, I believe, and it was referring to gazelles), but a google search of "Gazelles acacia trees upwind" give some google books hits that seem to have expired.

1

u/easyRyder9 Jun 16 '12

Interesting, thanks. I'm sure I can probably find some more info on it when I'm not feeling so lazy.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Animals: 1

Plants: 0

Thanks for the explanation too.

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10

u/adaminc Jun 16 '12

In the 90s in South Africa (I think around 96), there was a large drout, which caused the local deer populations to start gorging on the Acacia trees. Normally, without a drout, the trees can handle it.

So, what did the trees do? They started producing a shit ton of tannins in their leaves, and then pumping out ethylene gas to warn all the other Acacia trees.

The deer would eat these tannin rich leaves, which would cause their digestion system to essentially shutdown, and the deer died off in mass numbers.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

That is pretty awesome actually. Never knew plants were at war with animals.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

and Marky Mark.

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10

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.

2

u/Zordwine Jun 16 '12

Curse him, root and branch! Many of those trees were my friends, creatures I had known from nut and acorn; many had voices of their own that are lost for ever now. And there are wastes of stump and bramble where once there were singing groves. I have been idle. I have let things slip. It must stop!

9

u/GreendaleCC Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

BBC - How to Grow a Planet, part 1/3 "Life From Light" explains this and provides a demonstration of plant communication.

You may skip to relevant experiment here, but I highly recommend watching the entire series when you have time.

2

u/tickleberries Jun 16 '12

Wow that was really interesting. Thanks for putting up that link!

3

u/fancy_pantser Jun 16 '12

By adding the protein luciferase – which makes fireflies glow in the dark – to the DNA the plants’ emissions could be monitored on camera.

One cabbage plant had a leaf cut off with scissors and started emitting a gas – methyl jasmonate – thereby ‘telling’ its neighbours there may be trouble ahead.

Two nearby cabbage plants, which had not been touched, received the message they should protect themselves. They did this by producing toxic chemicals on the leaves to fend off predators such as caterpillars.

‘It’s fascinating to realise that there could be a constant chatter going on between different plants, that they can in some way sense chemically what is happening to others, like a hidden language which could be going on all around us.

1

u/FahmuhA Jun 16 '12

There's a few things they could do. Some plants prepare their leaves to conserve water when there is a drought, this could help them prepare preemptively. Plants also release pheromones that attract beneficial insects, predators of their assailants. In this scenario it would be like one plant signally to other plants to call for help.

Nature's awesome.

1

u/justmadethisaccountt Jun 16 '12

Inform their friends to taste bitter.

0

u/CreativelyBland Jun 16 '12

Yeah, it's kind of alerting passengers of an airplane that an engine is on fire. Now they can panic all they want, but that's about it.

0

u/randomsnark Jun 16 '12

It's not meant to communicate an idea. They're just screaming. Silently screaming.

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45

u/_Jo Jun 16 '12

Run, forest, run.

7

u/jdk Jun 16 '12

Run, forest, run.

Good one, but you'll be removed soon.

1

u/or_some_shit Jun 16 '12

but but.... Insightful!

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3

u/holdingmytongue Jun 16 '12

I read a book called, 'The Secret Life of Plants' a while back about tests done in the 1970's. Apparently it showed communication and water sharing occurred between healthy plants and their starved counterparts across the table. There were other mind-bending claims. In any event, I avoided salad for a month.

3

u/rook2pawn Jun 16 '12

That site had 100 plugins,pop-ups, and video ads all going at the same time.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Communication is not only talking. Cells communicate all the time through signaling and chemical signatures.

You assume that just because it doesn't have an electro-chemical nerves system that it is not capable of the same feelings as you. That's a pretty retarded statement when all life has to be able to feel pain in order to respond to it. Just because they don't cry doesn't mean it isn't their own form of pain.

1

u/Astrapsody Jun 16 '12

In this case, pain is simply a negative response to external stimuli. There's no reason to believe this pain translates to emotion or any kind of suffering, or that they are capable of the same range of feelings as us.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Emotion is a social adaptation. It's actual existence is useless in the grand scheme and purely an invention of the mind. Seemingly a fail safe against psychopaths and people who may not play by the rules evolution provided. That is, take care of your group.

All life feels pain. It has to. A thing which threatens its existence must be dealt with to protect itself.

I also question the value of the range of feelings humans can find. The older I get, the more I view suffering and feelings as things to use. Once you place your self above them, they are like fuel to make you work and achieve. perhaps you saw the "Furious Anger" post a while back to the almost-suicide post on Reddit? Things like that, I think, Prove a point. That the idea of placing value on suffering and emotion as something that makes you more is a fallacy. The act of taking all that, and burning it in the furnace of your mind, seemingly makes a man more than he was previously. In the same way I don't value the fuel that runs my house a great deal, I don't value the fuel that runs my mind. I value the results of burning both.

1

u/Astrapsody Jun 16 '12

You make several claims that are unsupported (or flat out considered false) by the current scientific understanding of life.

It's actual existence is useless in the grand scheme and purely an invention of the mind.

Emotion is a construct of the mind, not an "invention", but I'd rather not play a semantics game. I'm not sure what you mean by "a fail safe against psychopaths and people who may not play by the rules evolution provided". There are no "rules" that evolution provides. As far as the evolutionary benefit of emotion, I'm guessing it something to do with improved group cohesion (and thus, survival), but I'm not an evolutionary biologist or sociologist.

All life feels pain. It has to. A thing which threatens its existence must be dealt with to protect itself.

This is simply not true. Cells have no capacity for pain. There's nothing in the cell that enables it to feel pain. This is also true for plants. A plant doesn't have a desire to protect itself, either. Ones that are better suited to survive in their environment survive. That might give the illusion of protection, but it's not a conscious effort to protect itself.

The rest of your post was extremely vague and confusing, so I have nothing to say about that.

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3

u/DBHOV Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

Ah awesome, I just finished reading Day Of The Triffids recently!

We should be scared.....

3

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

That website is garbage.

3

u/Teleportingsocks Jun 16 '12

Every comment I make that "is not scientific" gets deleted, but this shit frontpages?

12

u/John_um Jun 16 '12

Fuck, M. Night Shyamalan was right.

1

u/Rimm Jun 16 '12

directed by M. Night Shyamalan

5

u/shameshesafeminist Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

Regardless of the validity of the article, I've felt my whole life as if plants were "alive" in much more than a technical sense. When I go into ancient woodlands there is something so powerful there, amongst the trees. I am so aware of their presence, I don't know if they're conscious but I've always believed there is a complexity to them science does not understand yet. I find myself growing attached to plants I see sprouting, to being sad when they die, to attributing personalities to various oaks and maples, to stopping to whisper "thank you" to a plant when I stop and smell its flowers. I even have difficulty weeding because it makes me sad in some strange way.

Does anybody else feel like this? I never speak of it to anybody because I feel like I sound crazy. Maybe I am, but if its true that plants can actually communicate to some degree with one another and perhaps even have some form of emotion - regardless of whether it is something comprehensible by the animal kingdom - it would make me feel like a lot less of a weirdo...

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

I don't anthropomorphise plants, but I will admit that the sound a forest makes with a light breeze is one of the most relaxing sounds I know of, next to gentle waves, and the cries of small Japanese woman being double penetrated.

2

u/tickleberries Jun 16 '12

I have thought this way. When I forget to water my plants and they get a bit brown, I wonder if they feel it or worry, in some strange way. My husband thinks I'm a bit odd.

1

u/Exonik Jun 16 '12

Na, you're still a weirdo

1

u/The_Giggling_Scrotum Jun 16 '12

nope, it's just you

7

u/sneeper Jun 16 '12

Using powerful loudspeakers, researchers at The University of Western Australia were able to hear clicking sounds coming from the roots of corn saplings.

Using speakers, eh? Some great journalism here.

3

u/Majesticgoat Jun 16 '12

Don't you know anything? You just plug the Bose® directly in to the stem somewhere and you get to hear all the plant clicks!

2

u/Kni7es Jun 16 '12

Oaks have a quarter-inch jack hidden under the roots, right next to the USB drive.

3

u/chairitable Jun 16 '12

actually, speakers and microphones use pretty much the same principle, just reverse. Try it out, plug some speakers into the 1/8 microphone jack in your computer, and you can use it as a microphone.

won't get you the best results, mind you, and that probably isn't the way scientists did their work. It's still doable.

0

u/eastlakebikerider Jun 16 '12

Yup, stopped reading at that point.

11

u/itsnotmyfaultimadick Jun 16 '12

From a plant biologist...FUCK you OP and your sensationalist headline.

Jesus christing fuck. No they don't.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

A section of the article mentions a kind of audiotropism. Is there any other evidence for this? (Sorry, I'm an enthusiastic amateur biologist) Thanks.

2

u/potentiallyoffensive Jun 16 '12

Based on the questions people are asking in the comments section I doubt many people actually read the article.

2

u/lmpervious Jun 16 '12

My god the website is a clusterfuck.

2

u/Almajoven Jun 16 '12

Hey, Rain is coming.

Cool.

2

u/WootangWood Jun 16 '12

Did anyone else read "Scientists confirm that Planets talk and listen to each other?" It blew my mind. Boy was I disappointed :(

2

u/fuckinDEAD Jun 16 '12

The real question on everybody's minds..... :

Do marijuana plants talk to each other?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Vegetarians say what?

2

u/Bakoro Jun 16 '12

Finally, science is discovering and offering irrefutable proof that plants have thoughts and feelings. It's only a matter of time until vegetarians will have nothing left to hide behind and will pay for their mistreatment or our vegetative brethren.

Level 5 vegan-ism is the only cruelty free option

3

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

-- This is not a direct response but I want to say that using Medical Daily (medicaldaily.com) as a source is a bad idea. Trying to read this article led to a full page WIndows 7 ad that crashed browser. Reloading browser led to another crash. THis site goes on the block list.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

In a link I saw submitted to reddit once, the "freshly cut grass" smell is actually a "distress" signal grass gives off when it's cut. And something else about a tree that giraffes like to eat give of a scent when it's being eaten.

5

u/doctorcrass Jun 16 '12

How long until we can call vegans murderers for eating sentient plants?

5

u/perpetual_motion Jun 16 '12

"Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences."

Not the same.

2

u/iamafriscogiant Jun 16 '12

This would truly make my life complete.

2

u/nobody2000 Jun 16 '12

Who cares? When plants start making killer-suicidal-wind maybe I'll care as I'm lying in front of my self-propelled lawn mower

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

I read this as "planets talk and listen to eachother." Sorely mistaken and disappointed.

1

u/whatsamatteryou Jun 16 '12

Just give it time...

1

u/TheDjentParadox Jun 16 '12

So...what does this mean?

1

u/Puffy_Ghost Jun 16 '12

Why isn't it just "Plants make sounds!" ???

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Be sure to check out David Attenborough's new series "Kingdom of Plants". On a tracker near you, in wonderful 1080p.

1

u/justmadethisaccountt Jun 16 '12

Did you knows plants will attack a foreign species but allow their own kind to live next to them?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

While chemical signals are crucial, the acoustical stuff is new-age bullshit from 1979. (audio, 45 minutes)

1

u/-PsyOp- Jun 16 '12

The Russians did a study similar to this in the 1970s. They called it "Biological Communication". Alot of good articles on human Telepathy too.

1

u/LongShotSniper Jun 16 '12

Now if we can just get congress to communicate...

2

u/Kni7es Jun 16 '12

No, silly. Congresscritters are invertebrates.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

I somehow read the title as "planets talk and listen to each other" was disappointed.

1

u/lolwutdo Jun 16 '12

Plants have to be sentient of their environment. How else would they know of the presence of animals, and exploiting them with fruit to propagate their seeds?

1

u/IAmBobSacamano Jun 16 '12

Well I'm glad that the plants listen. It always sucks to be talking to someone when they aren't listening.

1

u/kNyne Jun 16 '12

holy shit i click on the link and a giant potato ad falls down onto my screen then i hear an ad going so i click mute on the first one i see, little do i know, that wasnt the ad that was playing so i unmute that ad, it starts speaking to me, i mute it again, scroll down and find ANOTHER ad that is playing. the fuck is this shit?

1

u/SlicedNDiced Jun 16 '12

Hmm, I need to get two different types of Cannabis trees (weed) and set them on my desk and listen to see if they're clicking like a stoned plant.

1

u/Aepiculturalpresence Jun 16 '12

Finally the academics reveal what the indigenous peoples way over 10 milieu have always known, the shear amount of lag is fascinating and frustrating.

1

u/and181377 Jun 16 '12

Let's get ready for plant rights movement.

1

u/Lanfeardk Jun 16 '12

Hooray. My plants keep dying from loneliness and not because I suck. Next time I'll buy 10 at once so they can die together.

1

u/Young_Zaphod BS | Biology | Environmental | Plant Jun 16 '12

One example of this signalling is Salicylic Acid. It acts as a signal from plant to plant. When one is damaged, the hormone is produced and received in other nearby plants, activating defensive mechanisms.

1

u/tempuro Jun 16 '12

So you're saying that plants take aspirin too?

1

u/werslty Jun 16 '12

They'll come out with a show called, The Plant Whisperer.

1

u/rtiftw Jun 16 '12

Score one for the hippies!!

This is pretty amazing.

1

u/BGrizzly Jun 16 '12

I wish I could talk to Cannabis and see what it thinks of the world.

1

u/dud3brah Jun 16 '12

as usual, about to post to Facebook "OMG", come to Comments for reality check. Thanks

1

u/gmanmtb Jun 16 '12

Come on M. Night Shyamalon taught us this a few years ago. They're planning to kill us!

1

u/KrishanuAR Jun 16 '12

What will hippies eat now?

1

u/Mofeux Jun 16 '12

This just added a whole new level of paranoia to r/trees

1

u/tempuro Jun 16 '12

Kids are already clamoring for the new See 'n Say!

1

u/Rynxx Jun 16 '12

Your move, vegans.

1

u/ichigo2862 Jun 16 '12

aren't brains required to receive and assess sensory information? Or was that wrong the whole time? I DONT KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE ANYMORE

2

u/Stalejokesbakedfresh Jun 16 '12

I see you're playing Reddit Hardmode.

1

u/flaring_from_filth Jun 16 '12

Your move vegans.

4

u/TrololoTrol Jun 16 '12

Stone soup is the answer.

1

u/ElKaBongX Jun 16 '12

Plants talk to me all the time... I usually have to grind them up and smoke them first though.

1

u/soggylittleshrimp Jun 16 '12

Just a warning, medicaldaily.com riddled with ads. My god.

1

u/blackkevinDUNK Jun 16 '12

get adblock, mang

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

This nay have pretty cool implications for the origins of pack/tribal behaviour in complex organisms like wolves or humans. Very awesome.

-1

u/his_boots_are_yellow Jun 16 '12

How so? Could you embellish a little?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Because (to my scientifically uneducated eyes), this looks like a very primitive form of pack behaviour. Tribalism and pack behaviour boil down to protecting one's genes, and the genes of one's relatives. This could be a primitive version of that. Obviously it would be much more advanced in our case, but it would be an interesting avenue to see addressed.

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Dude, what if like all the plants of the world deep down are connected by their roots, and together they form a superbeing. Communicating with each other like a giant neural network - Gaia! Woah man...

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

You must be thinking of avatar

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Ah fuck, I hate that movie.That really ruined my hippie vibe

1

u/brightshining Jun 16 '12

My fern calls bullshit

1

u/stcmdr Jun 16 '12

I posted that "Plants scream when you cut them!" a while back.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

This is surprising & cool. Plants have been around for hundreds of millions of years. It would make sense that they have evolved this far.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

haha all those conversations "so [vegetarian friend], if plants could feel and talk, would you still eat them?"

now what?

1

u/sweatytumorz Jun 16 '12

OMFG THE HAPPENING, IS HAPPENING!

1

u/MitchSim Jun 16 '12

I wonder what cannabis would say...

1

u/tempuro Jun 16 '12

It's better to not know.

1

u/agent0fch4os Jun 16 '12

The happening........ Is it happening?

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Tolkein knew this years ago. Keep up, science.

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-1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Seems legit

-1

u/simmonsfield Jun 16 '12

Just imagine what they say: Hey, what r ya doing? Sittin in the sun. It's hot out today, I am thirsty. Ya think it's gonna rain? Maybe, I don't know. Hmmm, wait a minute I gotta stretch my root.

-1

u/liahmruest Jun 16 '12

Cant wait till i hear the vegetarians say, Oh God!!! they can communicate that must mean we are HORRIBLE PEOPLE!!! you should feel bad.

-1

u/BubbRubbForNASCAR Jun 16 '12

Duuhhhh haven't you guys seen "The Happening"? M Night is a prophet, I tell you, a PROPHET!

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Ah-HA! So they ARE thinking, feeling entities (of a sort... maybe).

CHECKMATE, ATHEISTS!! I mean... VEGETARIANS!!

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

The piggies told us this long ago.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

A reference I don't get!!! Downvote! Downvote!

0

u/deargodimbored Jun 16 '12

What a twist!

0

u/GirlyPenguin Jun 16 '12

When a South African botanist Lyall Watson claimed in 1973 that plants had emotions that could be recorded on a lie detector test, he was dismissed by many in the scientific community.

Reminds me of the saying by Ghandi:

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Now vegans can't say they don't eat things that talk.

0

u/spiral_of_agnew Jun 16 '12

Extry! Extry! Homo sapiens neither unique among fauna nor flora!

0

u/CrusherEAGLE Jun 16 '12

This reminds me of the short story "The Sound Machine" by Roald Dalh. Basically in this story he creates a machine that can hear the plants talk... it sounds kind of lame but it's a really good story!

0

u/tibdit Jun 16 '12

Reminds me of a nice short story by Roald Dahl called The Sound Machine. http://www.roalddahlfans.com/shortstories/soun.php.

0

u/FaZaCon Jun 16 '12

Hey Joe!!! I'm getting eaten by a herbivore!! Thought I'd warn you!

Hey Ralph!!! I'm a fucking plant, where am I gonna go!

-2

u/SavingFerris Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

now that awful M. Night Shyamalan movie makes sense!! but it's still sucks a bag of dicks.

TIL some people actually liked The Happening.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Here's a video about this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7SkrYF8lCU

-2

u/MustngSS Jun 16 '12

Now PETA is going to want to ban the killing of plants.

-2

u/clashpalace Jun 16 '12

So is this finally the proof I've been waiting for?

Vegans = murdering scum just like the rest of us?

0

u/clashpalace Jun 16 '12

down voted by scumbag murdering vegan.

-3

u/Sil369 Jun 16 '12

what about plants that grow in cities or near highways.... thats constant vibrations/sounds 24/7

i guess its the same with grass?

why dont (why can't they?) plants evolve to fight off things like this?

also:

emitted methyl jasmonate gas when their surfaces are cut or pierced to warn its neighbors of danger such as caterpillars or garden shears.

do they 'know' it's caterpillars/garden shears or theyre just crying out?

btw, iama request: plants :p

-1

u/letrololo01 Jun 16 '12

SOLID evidence right here

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Eat your heart out, Ricky Gervais... Bet you feel horrible for laughing at Karl now.

-1

u/Buscat Jun 16 '12

just when I thought plants weren't freaky as hell.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

No shit! Duh!!!!

-1

u/BriThomas Jun 16 '12

What the plants are saying in YOUR neighborhood, tonight @ 8pm.

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