A Plant that can recognise its own kin.

[Cthogua]

This blows my mind in like 10 different directions. Not only does it recognize it's relatives, but gives them preferential treatment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/science/10plant.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

[Grief]

fuck smart plant science.

389392

[drd]

Wow, this is really cool. To think that plants may be more than they seem...?

(Ents, anyone? =P)

[Jason Rainville]

Didn't fully read the article but as far as I know, plant adapted to 'help' its kin =/= plant recognizing or "knowing" its kin. It's like saying plants 'recognize' soil therefore grow there, or that they recognize that there's sunlight and use it for photosinthesis.

Still really neat though :)

[Queen Nehalania]

Wow, that is indeed amazing.

[daestwen]

Jason, I suggest reading the whole article. :) It's actually really fascinating, you won't regret it.

[Cthogua]

Didn't fully read the article but as far as I know, plant adapted to 'help' its kin =/= plant recognizing or "knowing" its kin. It's like saying plants 'recognize' soil therefore grow there, or that they recognize that there's sunlight and use it for photosinthesis.

Still really neat though :)

Actually the article goes on to say that most animals can't differentiate their own relatives. So recognizing a genetic relative is a lot more significant than just being adapted for a certain environment. Part of the whats revolutionary about this discovery is that it supports the idea that plants are more than just static things in the environment, and that just because they don't have eyes, ears, or the type of sense organs that animals use, or even the same method of transfering information around the body, doesn't mean they might not have their owns systems. A whole different medium for some type of consciousness...don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna start campaigning for plant rights. Life feeds on life, I got no problem with that. Its just a really interesting idea. No place stranger than the real world.

"The problem, for many scientists, is that as obvious as the behaviors sometimes are, they can seem just too complex and animal-like for a plant. “Maybe if we understood more mechanistically how it’s happening,” Dr. Karban added, “we’d feel more comfortable about accepting the results that we’re finding.”

Its kind of funny to me that a scientist would need to be "comfortable" to accept the findings of experiments or observations.

[Jason Rainville]

Coooooooool :)