Karan Yegnala
BIOL 141
11/8/2016
Plant Discussion Questions
1) What is plant neurobiology?
According to the article, the definition of plant neurobiology is the study of how plants use “an intrinsic ability to process information from both abiotic and biotic stimuli that allow optimal decisions about future activities in a given environment” (Pollan 3). Unsurprisingly, the name of plant neurobiology wasn’t well-received due to “the absence of actual neurons.” (Pollan 3). Stefano Mancuso posed an interesting idea that studying plants could help us understand how the brain works. I believe that this is a fruitful venture to study the unknown. The article constantly mentioned how critics were upset by the wording rather than the research or results. …show more content…
The Mimosa Pudica experiment was from “an unpublished paper by Monica Gagliano” (Pollan 8). Mimosa plant’s leave fold when touched and “collapse its leaves when the plant is dropped”.(Pollan 8). Gagliano set up a system to allow sixty drops on the leaves. After training, the mimosa will “reopen their leaves after just four, five, or six drops” (Pollan 8-9). Personally, I think that plant was able to adapt to its new surrounding because the mimosa would still open even after 23 days. There needs to be more concrete evidence to back up such a claim. Plants can learn and adapt to their surroundings. To me, the biggest issue is the right word for this type of behavior. Is this a apples to apples comparison? Is this a different type of intelligence? Honestly, I don’t think that plants can learn in the traditional sense, but it’s evident that they are doing …show more content…
That’s very fascinating question. Can plants be intelligent without the conventional vehicle aka the brain? If plants are intelligent and placed on the same scale as animals, where would they stand? It’s clear that plants have behavior to certain environmental change. I wonder how much of that was actually from ‘thought’. Right now, intelligent behavior of plants is considered to be “an emergent property of cells” (Pollen 11) . The article compares how that concept isn’t as farfetched as use of neutrons. I don’t think that plants can have higher consciousness, but it’s clear that something is allowing the
BIOL 141
11/8/2016
Plant Discussion Questions
1) What is plant neurobiology?
According to the article, the definition of plant neurobiology is the study of how plants use “an intrinsic ability to process information from both abiotic and biotic stimuli that allow optimal decisions about future activities in a given environment” (Pollan 3). Unsurprisingly, the name of plant neurobiology wasn’t well-received due to “the absence of actual neurons.” (Pollan 3). Stefano Mancuso posed an interesting idea that studying plants could help us understand how the brain works. I believe that this is a fruitful venture to study the unknown. The article constantly mentioned how critics were upset by the wording rather than the research or results. …show more content…
The Mimosa Pudica experiment was from “an unpublished paper by Monica Gagliano” (Pollan 8). Mimosa plant’s leave fold when touched and “collapse its leaves when the plant is dropped”.(Pollan 8). Gagliano set up a system to allow sixty drops on the leaves. After training, the mimosa will “reopen their leaves after just four, five, or six drops” (Pollan 8-9). Personally, I think that plant was able to adapt to its new surrounding because the mimosa would still open even after 23 days. There needs to be more concrete evidence to back up such a claim. Plants can learn and adapt to their surroundings. To me, the biggest issue is the right word for this type of behavior. Is this a apples to apples comparison? Is this a different type of intelligence? Honestly, I don’t think that plants can learn in the traditional sense, but it’s evident that they are doing …show more content…
That’s very fascinating question. Can plants be intelligent without the conventional vehicle aka the brain? If plants are intelligent and placed on the same scale as animals, where would they stand? It’s clear that plants have behavior to certain environmental change. I wonder how much of that was actually from ‘thought’. Right now, intelligent behavior of plants is considered to be “an emergent property of cells” (Pollen 11) . The article compares how that concept isn’t as farfetched as use of neutrons. I don’t think that plants can have higher consciousness, but it’s clear that something is allowing the