Scientists studying maize plants have located that the plants make clicking noises with their roots, and bend their roots toward related sounds.
Some plants may communicate by making clicking noises with their roots, according to new international research.
Utilizing a microscanning laser Doppler vibrometer (a device to measure vibrations), the scientists recorded young maize plants making clicking noises with part of their roots. When the researchers broadcast equivalent sounds, the plants bent their roots toward it.
“Everyone knows that plants react to light, and scientists also know that plants use volatile chemicals to communicate with each other, for instance, when danger—such as a herbivore—approaches,” said study co-author Monica Gagliano from the University of Western Australia in a news release.
“I was working one day in my herb garden and started to wonder if maybe plants were also sensitive to sounds—why not?—so I decided as a scientist to find out.”
Numerous plants are known to respond to sound. For example, vibrations trigger sensitive plants to fold their leaves, and flowers like blueberries and tomatoes only release pollen at the ultrasound frequency of a bee’s wing flap.
Sources and more information:
• Cleve Backster – Primary Perception
Cleve Backster, Jr. is a best known for his experiments with biocommunication in plant and animal cells using a polygraph machine in the 1960s which led to his theory of “primary perception.” Backster began his career as an Interrogation Specialist with the CIA, and went on to become Chairman of the Research and Instrument Committee of the Academy…