Your move, vegans.

[Larynx]

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/201...n-survival.htm

When a South African botanist Lyall Watson claimed in 1973 that plants had emotions that could be recorded on a lie detector test, he was dismissed by many in the scientific community.

However, new research, published in the journal Trends in Plant Science, has revealed that plants not only respond to sound, but they also communicate to each other by making "clicking" sounds.

Using powerful loudspeakers, researchers at The University of Western Australia were able to hear clicking sounds coming from the roots of corn saplings.

Researchers at Bristol University also found that when they suspended the young roots in water and played a continuous noise at 220Hz, a similar frequency to the plant clicks, they found that the plants grew towards the source of the sound.

"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," Dr. Gagliano said in a university 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."

While it has been long known that plants grow towards light, previous research from Exeter University found cabbage plants emitted methyl jasmonate gas when their surfaces are cut or pierced to warn its neighbors of danger such as caterpillars or garden shears.

Researchers from the earlier study also found that the when the volatile gas was emitted, the nearly cabbage plants appeared to receive the urgent message that and protected themselves by producing toxic chemicals on their leaves to fend off predators like caterpillars.

However, new research, published in the journal Trends in Plant Science, has revealed that plants not only respond to sound, but they also communicate to each other by making "clicking" sounds.

Scientists suspect that sound and vibration may play an essential role in the survival of plants by giving them information about the environment around them.

Researchers said sounds waves are easily transmissible through soil, and could be used to pick up threats like drought from their neighbors further away.

Gagliano said that the latest findings shows that the role of sound in plants has yet to be fully explored, "leaving serious gaps our current understanding of the sensory and communicatory complexity of these organisms".

In addition to other forms of sensory response, "it is very likely that some form of sensitivity to sound and vibrations also plays an important role in the life of plants," she added.

What does the great General Off-Topic forum populous have to say?

edit: The title is a joke, by the way.

[Krolikn]

Murderers the lot of them!

[psdew1813]

lol plants talk. which makes me wonder if lettuce screams when i have it in a salad......i hope it does

[Endus]

There's also been studies that are showing that plants release distress signals in the form of chemicals, such as when they're cut or broken, which other plants can react to.

That freshly mown lawn smell? That's tens of thousands of blades of grass screaming.

[Lumberjack]

Vegans are going to be eating a lot of peanuts in the near future.

[vizzle]

They hardly "communicate" in the sense that animals do. Their clicking is just as passive as as the biochemical gases they release. Not that I'm vegan, just sensationalist title is sensationalist.

[Lollis]

There's also been studies that are showing that plants release distress signals in the form of chemicals, such as when they're cut or broken, which other plants can react to.

That freshly mown lawn smell? That's tens of thousands of blades of grass screaming.

[Spectral]

After thinking about diets a lot, I came to the conclusion that what's morally just depends on what you treat as axiomatically true rather than conclusions that can be reasoned to. I've personally settled on being fine with consuming whatever you like, provided animals are raised and slaughtered humanely. I think it's reasonable to reach other conclusions. I don't think this finding changes that at all.

[mirthen]

Guess with nothing left to eat, they will simply have to start eating each other, and themselves till they are all gone. That or someone needs to find evidence that rocks have feelings too...

[Lothaeryn]

They hardly "communicate" in the sense that animals do. Their clicking is just as passive as as the biochemical gases they release. Not that I'm vegan, just sensationalist title is sensationalist.

I just find the Irony of veganism comes from the fact that their intent is to not eat or harm any life, yet in the process of eating plants are, in fact, taking life from another creature, the only difference is that plants don't look like they are in pain like animals are when they are cut.

And if they don't consider plants a form of life, that just shows they have a discriminatory view of what is considered life.

[TheJoker1393]

My food shits on your food. /thread?

[hoofton]

FWIW, PETA doesnt care about killing plants or even really small animals such as insects because because it has not been proven by scientists that they can feel pain and suffer. The creator of PETA herself has said that eating all of the escargo you want is perfectly fine. The key with them isnt animal deaths, but animal suffering.

[c1nn4m0n]

Poor little plantsies.

[Ispamx]

None of these studies indicate that plants "feel" pain, or think. The responses are just natural responses that were chosen by Natural Selection because they were advantageous to the plants chances of survival. I don't think that it is wrong to eat plants, in the same sense that it is wrong to kill animals, who can act out of choice and feel pain like humans do.

[Dezeria]

Suddenly that movie 'The Happening' seems much scarier now.

[Dindo]

Pretty sure there was a Mythbusters episode where they tested just this matter. They tied a bunch of different machines to plants and smacked around other plants in the same room to see if there were any abnormal chemical or otherwise strange energy releases from the untouched plants.

They found nothing.

[Valort]

Well, to be honest, a lettuce is about as intelligent as a cow, so there should be no difference killing either for food.

[Spectral]

I just find the Irony of veganism comes from the fact that their intent is to not eat or harm any life, yet in the process of eating plants are, in fact, taking life from another creature, the only difference is that plants don't look like they are in pain like animals are when they are cut.

And if they don't consider plants a form of life, that just shows they have a discriminatory view of what is considered life.

It's not life that's at issue, it's inflicting suffering on other animals that's the issue for vegans. Plants aren't capable of experiencing suffering.

[Larynx]

Pretty sure there was a Mythbusters episode where they tested just this matter. They tied a bunch of different machines to plants and smacked around other plants in the same room to see if there were any abnormal chemical or otherwise strange energy releases from the untouched plants.

They found nothing.

Mythbusters is entertainment at best.

[ainra]

not all vegans are vegans because they are sad about eating things with feelings or emotions or releasing chemicals.