00:00 Venus flytraps are one of nature's most interesting plants, as they're one of the
00:07 few that's carnivorous, meaning they actually eat living creatures.
00:11 However, despite being, well, plants, the mechanisms of their electrically activated
00:15 jaws were never quite understood.
00:17 That is, until now.
00:19 Researchers from Linköping University in Sweden say that it was only a few years ago
00:22 that botanists were able to figure out what instigated the closing of a Venus flytrap's
00:26 jaws.
00:27 A Venus flytrap has two sequential strokes of highly sensitive hairs within its mouth,
00:31 which causes an influx of charged calcium ions to close the fanged plant's jaws.
00:35 However, this was only the first step, with this new study mapping the precise propagation
00:39 of those signals.
00:40 The charged calcium ions create what's called an action potential, and even though plants
00:44 don't have a nervous system like us, this action potential causes similar reactions
00:48 in the plant nonetheless.
00:49 So researchers used electrodes that could cover much of the plant's lobes, or what make
00:53 up its carnivorous head.
00:55 Meaning that if the sensory hairs were touched twice within 30 seconds, they would snap shut
00:59 on the second encounter, and those signals would radiate at a constant speed.
01:02 However, if they were touched with more than a minute in between, the electrical signal
01:06 would move faster on the second encounter.
01:08 Meaning it appears that the plant was more aware, almost as if the Venus flytrap was
01:12 on guard.
01:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:17 [inaudible]
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