00:00Verbal communication is one of humanity's greatest abilities, allowing us to teach and
00:08pass on information, or warn one another of danger.
00:11And while other creatures can also communicate in similar ways, we often think of plants
00:15as sort of passive organisms, but new evidence suggests that's not the case.
00:19We have long known that plants can communicate with chemical signals, in fact, Sven Bott
00:23writes for The Conversation, that's what's happening when you smell freshly cut grass,
00:27explaining, the volatiles or chemical substances released by the grass plants, which we associate
00:32with that smell, are one way they communicate, the nearby plants that a predator, or in this
00:36case a lawnmower, is present, prompting an adjustment in plant defenses.
00:41However, new research suggests that plants are also talking to one another via electrophysiology.
00:46Scientists have begun inserting electrical probes into plants, in greenhouses, both reading
00:51what plants are communicating outwardly, and also influencing their behaviors by sending
00:55electrical signals to them.
00:56In one experiment, they were even able to get a Venus flytrap to open and close its
01:00mouth like leaves.
01:02Decoding this plant language could let us better understand our crops, though experts
01:05also say there is a massive underground plant communication system, sometimes referred to
01:10as the wood wide web, believed to connect some 80% of all plants and fungi.
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