Friday, July 16, 2010

Plants Can Think and Remember



BBC: Plants 'can think and remember'.

Plants are able to "remember" and "react" to information contained in light, according to researchers.

Plants, scientists say, transmit information about light intensity and quality from leaf to leaf in a very similar way to our own nervous systems.

These "electro-chemical signals" are carried by cells that act as "nerves" of the plants.

In their experiment, the scientists showed that light shone on to one leaf caused the whole plant to respond.

And the response, which took the form of light-induced chemical reactions in the leaves, continued in the dark.

This showed, they said, that the plant "remembered" the information encoded in light.

5 comments:

Jeffery Keown said...

Evolution is awesome.

OilIsMastery said...

Too bad this rediscovery proves evolution is false.

Quantum_Flux said...

I thought peanut butter did that.

Jeffery Keown said...

Oils,
Please cite how this "rediscovery" falsifies evolution.

If you are going to bring the ediface of modern science crashing down around our ears, you should do more than make baseless, non-specific claims.

Jeffery Keown said...

Well, it's been a while, and no response other than a poem about grapes has emerged.

I conclude that you are either:

1. Dead, and cannot respond to my question.

2. Researching evolution for a change, looking for a response.

3. Hip-deep in quotes, working feverishly to get someone else to answer this for you.

4. Not going to answer.

Option 4 seems the most likely. Fine, I'll answer for you. There is nothing about this research that brings any doubts about evolution. The light sensing of plants is an adaption, using entirely physical and well-researched genetic methods to produce the results seen. Further, the light memory adaption serves to protect the plant against disease, as Prof. Karpinski would put it, "More Light, Less Disease."