By: Ethan & Connie Cao
Scientists have found out that plants and flowers can react to sound! Not only do flowers make sweeter nectar to the sound of buzzing bees, but scientists and researchers have discovered that plants can talk in ultrasonic voices, which are too high for humans to hear.
Professor Lilach Hadany and her team at Tel Aviv University set up microphones to record tomato and tobacco plants under different conditions. The plants made beeping sounds and loud noises like popping bubble wraps. As the scientists studied the sounds, they began to notice patterns. Plants hardly clicked at all when they had enough water. But as their soil got drier, they clicked more and more.
hey tested the plant by cutting off stems and not giving them water. They made faster noises after cutting off stems, but they made louder and faster noises when they didn’t have water. This experience shows that plants talk more when they are stressed. The discovery has the potential to help farmers, gardeners, and more understand the plants that need their help.
Another question was if plants can use sound to talk to each other. We know from other research that plants do seem to communicate in some ways. Plants being attacked by insects send chemicals into the air. Soon, nearby plants (that haven’t been attacked yet) start to make other chemicals that don’t taste good to insects. It’s possible that the ultrasonic sounds could work similarly.
Of course, this research gives rise to new questions, such as is anything listening to the plants? We might have an answer soon. Scientists have invented an AI that can find out what the plants are saying. With these new discoveries, scientists and farmers change the world and lead exploration to other explorations. For example, plants talk to other things talking.