If Plants Could Talk

Staff writer Zoë Schlanger is the proud owner of a petunia that glows in the dark. But she doesn’t just appreciate the novelty houseplant as work of science. Zoë sees its glow as a way to help us appreciate plants as more alive, more vital, and more complex than we humans typically do. Because in recent years, some scientists have reopened a provocative debate: Are plants intelligent?
They’ve devised experiments that break down elements of this big broad question: Can plants be said to hear? Sense touch? Communicate? Make decisions? Recognize kin?
Schlanger is the author of the upcoming book: The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life in Earth. How could a thing without a brain be considered intelligent? Schlanger has spoken with dozens of botanists, from the most renegade to the most cautious, and she reports back on the state of the revolution in thinking.
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[@terryorourke809]

Wonderful interview - delightful challenge to our consciousness and conscience. 26:46

[@ritagreen6499]

This podcast needs to have a part 2, I would love to hear comments on ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’. If Trees have unbelievable capacity, why would plants not also be as resourceful?

[@carolynmullet1726]

Interesting, but the idea that houseplants, because they were propagated in greenhouses for generations, would not be able to live anywhere but inside is absurd. Given the conditions outside are what they need to thrive, they would be fine. Ask any real gardener what happens to their houseplants when they bring them outside for the summer.

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

Algae are the real light-eaters - read Raffael Jovine's book.

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

live-i-ness? "Tired of the doom and gloom"? too bad!! We need ALGAE to reverse abrupt global warming but instead she regressed back to plants? Tragic.