radiolab smarty plants

ROBERT: And I wanted to talk to them because, as building inspectors they -- there's something they see over and over and over. If you get too wrapped up in your poetic metaphor, you're very likely to be misled and to over-interpret the data. Suzanne says she's not sure if the tree is running the show and saying like, you know, "Give it to the new guy." Fan first, light after. What a fungus does is it -- it hunts, it mines, it fishes, and it strangles. Fan, light, lean. To remember? Jigs had provided this incredible window for me, you know, in this digging escapade to see how many different colors they were, how many different shapes there were, that they were so intertwined. 2016. Truth is, I think on this point she's got a -- she's right. 2016. Maybe just a tenth the width of your eyelash. Like so -- and I think that, you know, the whole forest then, there's an intelligence there that's beyond just the species. Thud. Would just suck up through photosynthesis. The plants would always grow towards the light. So it's predicting something to arrive. But I wonder if her using these metaphors is perhaps a very creative way of looking at -- looking at a plant, and therefore leads her to make -- make up these experiments that those who wouldn't think the way she would would ever make up. Now, it turns out that they're networked, and together they're capable of doing things, of behaviors, forestrial behaviors, that are deeply new. ROBERT: She determined that you can pick a little computer fan and blow it on a pea plant for pretty much ever and the pea plant would be utterly indifferent to the whole thing. But ROBERT: We did catch up with her a few weeks later. Handheld? Or at the time actually, she was a very little girl who loved the outdoors. And if you don't have one, by default you can't do much in general. ], [JENNIFER FRAZER: Soren Wheeler is Senior Editor. MONICA GAGLIANO: Exactly. If you get too wrapped up in your poetic metaphor, you're very likely to be misled and to over-interpret the data. And it can reach these little packets of minerals and mine them. All right. LARRY UBELL: Me first. We pulled Jigs out and we threw him in the lake with a great deal of yelping and cursing and swearing, and Jigs was cleaned off. But then, scientists did an experiment where they gave some springtails some fungus to eat. Exactly. ROBERT: And Monica wondered in the plant's case MONICA GAGLIANO: If there was only the fan, would the plant ROBERT: Anticipate the light and lean toward it? Huh. So just give me some birds. We are the principals of Accurate Building Inspectors of Brooklyn, New York. Then she takes the little light and the little fan and moves them to the other side of the plant. So she decided to conduct her experiment. Connecting your house to the main city water line that's in the middle of the street. Science writer Jen Frazer gave us kind of the standard story. And then I needed to -- the difficulty I guess, of the experiment was to find something that will be quite irrelevant and really meant nothing to the plant to start with. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. Every time. It's time -- time for us to go and lie down on the soft forest floor. Pics! I mean, it's a kind of romanticism, I think. We dropped. Can you -- will you soften your roots so that I can invade your root system?" You found exactly what the plants would do under your circumstances which were, I don't know, let's say a bit more tumultuous than mine. If she's going to do this experiment, most likely she's going to use cold water. So they can't move. The water is still in there. ROBERT: This is very like if you had a little helmet with a light on it. The water is still in there. I'm 84. Kind of even like, could there be a brain, or could there be ears or, you know, just sort of like going off the deep end there. ROBERT: That there was a kind of a moral objection to thinking this way. And it's good it was Sunday. And I'm wondering whether Monica is gonna run into, as she tries to make plants more animal-like, whether she's just gonna run into this malice from the scientific -- I'm just wondering, do you share any of that? I think you can be open-minded but still objective. ROBERT: And we dropped it once, and twice. JENNIFER FRAZER: So Pavlov started by getting some dogs and some meat and a bell. JAD: That is cool. ROBERT: She took some plants, put them in a pot that restricted the roots so they could only go in one of just two directions, toward the water pipe or away from the water pipe. I guess you could call it a mimosa plant drop box. And the salivation equivalent was the tilt of the plant? Yeah. MONICA GAGLIANO: Light is obviously representing dinner. And so I designed this experiment to figure that out. Or maybe slower? ROBERT: And she was willing to entertain the possibility that plants can do something like hear. And so I don't have a problem with that. His name is Roy Halling. So you're like a metaphor cop with a melty heart. Never mind.". Radiolab is supported in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of Science and Technology in the modern world. ], This is Jennifer Frazer, and I'm a freelance science writer and blogger of The Artful Amoeba at Scientific American. If she's going to do this experiment, most likely she's going to use cold water. Me first. And ROBERT: Since he was so deep down in there. I remember going in at the uni on a Sunday afternoon. [laughs]. ROBERT: This happens to a lot of people. I'm a professor emeritus of plant biology at UC Santa Cruz. The plants have to keep pulling their leaves up and they just get tired. Well, it depends on who you ask. Radiolab: Smarty Plants. It's like a bank? Isn't -- doesn't -- don't professors begin to start falling out of chairs when that word gets used regarding plants? JAD: That is cool. And she wondered whether that was true. One time, the plant literally flew out of the pot and upended with roots exposed. So we're really -- like this is -- we're really at the very beginning of this. JAD: The thing I don't get is in animals, the hairs in our ear are sending the signals to a brain and that is what chooses what to do. But We did catch up with her a few weeks later. Every one of them. Because the only reason why the experiment turned out to be 28 days is because I ran out of time. Hey, it's okay. ROBERT: And for the meat substitute, she gave each plant little bit of food. You're doing the -- like, okay first it was the roots under the ground all connected into a whole hive thing. Picasso! Peering down at the plants under the red glow of her headlamp. MONICA GAGLIANO: I remember going in at the uni on a Sunday afternoon. Maybe each root is -- is like a little ear for the plant. And I met a plant biologist who's gonna lead that parade. We showed one of these plants to him and to a couple of his colleagues, Sharon De La Cruz ROBERT: Because we wanted them to help us recreate Monica's next experiment. LARRY UBELL: Yeah, and I have done inspections where roots were coming up through the pipe into the house. They start producing chemicals that taste really bad. The whole thing immediately closes up and makes it look like, "Oh, there's no plant here. ROBERT: So you're like a metaphor cop with a melty heart. Me first. Hi. ROBERT: Science writer Jen Frazer gave us kind of the standard story. Well, I created these horrible contraptions. ROBERT: That is correct. And it's that little, little bit of moisture that the plant will somehow sense. I know -- I know you -- I know you don't. The next one goes, "Uh-oh." It'd be all random. ROBERT: He's got lots of questions about her research methods, but really his major complaint is -- is her language. ROBERT: So if all a tree could do was split air to get carbon, you'd have a tree the size of a tulip. JAD: Where would the -- a little plant even store a memory? It's almost as if the forest is acting as an organism itself. That's okay. ROBERT: Like, I don't understand -- learning, as far as I understand it, is something that involves memory and storage. And not too far away from this tree, underground, there is a water pipe. It's an integral part of DNA. The tree has a lot of sugar. But when we look at the below ground structure, it looks so much like a brain physically, and now that we're starting to understand how it works, we're going, wow, there's so many parallels. They don't do well in warm temperatures and their needles turn all sickly yellow. To remember? No, I don't because she may come up against it, people who think that intelligence is unique to humans. ROBERT: I don't know why you have problems with this. [ROY HALLING: This is Roy Halling, researcher specializing in fungi at the New York Botanical Garden. This feels one of those experiments where you just abort it on humanitarian grounds, you know? The magnolia tree outside of our house got into the sewer pipes, reached its tentacles into our house and busted the sewage pipe. Landing very comfortably onto a padded base made of foam. Or even learn? Monica thought about that and designed a different experiment. So, okay. I don't know. MONICA GAGLIANO: Yeah. ROBERT: So that's what the tree gives the fungus. And then all of a sudden, she says she looks down into the ground and she notices all around them where the soil has been cleared away there are roots upon roots upon roots in this thick, crazy tangle. ROBERT: In the Richard Attenborough version, if you want to look on YouTube, he actually takes a nail RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH: This pin will give you an idea. Annie McWen or McEwen ], [JENNIFER FRAZER: Latif Nasser, Malissa O'Donnell, Arianne Wack ], [ALVIN UBELL: Pat Walter and Molly Webber. ROBERT: Sounds, yeah. On the fifth day, they take a look and discover most of the roots, a majority of the roots were heading toward the sound of water. Yeah. Enough of that! To remember? Jigs is in trouble!" I was like, "Oh, my God! Start of message. So you can get -- anybody can get one of these plants, and we did. But it didn't happen. If I want to be a healthy tree and reach for the sky, then I need -- I need rocks in me somehow. ROBERT: She determined that you can pick a little computer fan and blow it on a pea plant for pretty much ever and the pea plant would be utterly indifferent to the whole thing. So if all a tree could do was split air to get carbon, you'd have a tree the size of a tulip. But maybe it makes her sort of more open-minded than -- than someone who's just looking at a notebook. In the state of California, a medicinal marijuana cultivation license allows for the cultivation of up to 99 plants. When you go into a forest, you see a tree, a tall tree. We're just learning about them now, and they're so interesting. They have to -- have to edit in this together. ROBERT: She made sure that the dirt didn't get wet, because she'd actually fastened the water pipe to the outside of the pot. No, I guess that I feel kind of good to say this. Pics! ROBERT: But once again I kind of wondered if -- since the plant doesn't have a brain or even neurons to connect the idea of light and wind or whatever, where would they put that information? And again. Like trees of different species are supposed to fight each other for sunshine, right? ROBERT: Isn't that what you do? Or maybe slower? Jun 3, 2019 - In our Animal Minds episode, we met a group of divers who rescued a humpback whale, then shared a really incredible moment.a moment in which the divers are convinced that the whale . ROBERT: And the classic case of this is if you go back a few centuries ago, someone noticed that plants have sex. So I don't have an issue with that. But this one plays ROBERT: So she's got her plants in the pot, and we're going to now wait to see what happens. And they still remembered. Smarty Plants--My Latest Guest Spot for Radiolab - Scientific American Blog Network COVID Health Mind & Brain Environment Technology Space & Physics Video Podcasts Opinion Store Knowledge within. Jul 30, 2016. MONICA GAGLIANO: My reaction was like, "Oh ****!" Today, Robert drags Jad along on a parade for the surprising feats of brainless plants. Seasonally. It's a -- it's a three-pronged answer. JENNIFER FRAZER: Finally, one time he did not bring the meat, but he rang the bell. Close. Into which she put these sensitive plants. So we're really -- like this is -- we're really at the very beginning of this. They remembered what had happened three days before, that dropping didn't hurt, that they didn't have to fold up. ROBERT: Monica's work has actually gotten quite a bit of attention from other plant biologists. ROBERT: But instead of dogs, she had pea plants in a dark room. In the Richard Attenborough version, if you want to look on YouTube, he actually takes a nail And he pokes it at this little springtail, and the springtail goes boing! ROBERT: Yeah. So she decided to conduct her experiment. Or maybe it's the fungus under the ground is kind of like a broker and decides who gets what. But let me just -- let me give it a try. Don't interrupt. And Jigs at some point just runs off into the woods, just maybe to chase a rabbit. But if you dig a little deeper, there's a hidden world beneath your feet as busy and complicated as a city at rush hour. It's a -- it's a three-pronged answer. So she decided to conduct her experiment. And it was almost like, let's see how much I have to stretch it here before you forget. But let me just -- let me give it a try. ], [JENNIFER FRAZER: Bethel Habte, Tracie Hunte, Matt Kielty ], [ALVIN UBELL: Matt Kielly. So Monica moves the fans to a new place one more time. ROBERT: And this? And then someone has to count. It's like a savings account? So they figured out who paid for the murder. Or even learn? And again. LARRY UBELL: It's kind of like a cold glass sitting on your desk and there's always a puddle at the bottom. I think there is something like a nervous system in the forest, because it's the same sort of large network of nodes sending signals to one another. ROBERT: All right, that's it, I think. Here's the water.". Actually, Monica's dog leads perfectly into her third experiment, which again will be with a plant. ROBERT: And her family included a dog named Jigs. I'm sorry? It's a very biased view that humans have in particular towards others. I think if I move on to the next experiment from Monica, you're going to find it a little bit harder to object to it. Well, people have been measuring this in different forests and ecosystems around the world, and the estimate is anywhere from 20 to 80 percent will go into the ground. You got the plant to associate the fan with food. Very similar to the sorts of vitamins and minerals that humans need. But what I do know is that the fact that the plant doesn't have a brain doesn't -- doesn't a priori says that the plants can't do something. ROBERT: Okay. They learned something. I mean, this is going places. LATIF: It's like a bank? Oh, one more thing. And so on. And she goes on to argue that had we been a little bit more steady and a little bit more consistent, the plants would have learned and would have remembered the lesson. But what I do know is that the fact that the plant doesn't have a brain doesn't -- doesn't a priori says that the plants can't do something. We dropped. Thud. And she was willing to entertain the possibility that plants can do something like hear. Wait a second. So no plants were actually hurt in this experiment. We're sitting on the exposed root system, which is like -- it is like a mat. MONICA GAGLIANO: Like for example, my plants were all in environment-controlled rooms, which is not a minor detail. ], And Alvin Ubell. Wilderness Radio. Except in this case instead of a chair, they've got a little plant-sized box.
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