this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2024
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Plants Really Do 'Scream'. We've Simply Never Heard Them Until Now (www.sciencealert.com)
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 211 points 4 days ago (4 children)

By contrast, stressed plants are much noisier, emitting an average up to around 40 clicks per hour depending on the species. And plants deprived of water have a noticeable sound profile. They start clicking more before they show visible signs of dehydrating, escalating as the plant grows more parched, before subsiding as the plant withers away.

someone smarter than me should get to inventing a device that listens to plant clicks and tells you when it needs water

[–] [email protected] 85 points 4 days ago

That's actually mentioned as one possible use case further down the article!

[–] [email protected] 75 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Might be a good use-case to have your home irrigation system be triggered by plant clicks instead of a schedule.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

It could be. Although we don't know how much those sounds indicate distress, and perhaps watering should happen much sooner.

Imagine if aliens abduct you and give you food only when your stomach makes the kind of noise it makes after three days without eating anything, because "that's all they can detect."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Well hence they will work out when the plant (or human in your example) is really starving.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We've already established that. But that method will shorten the life of the plant (and human.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I dunno, calorie restrictions has tended to lengthen lifespan in other organisms we've tried it on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Sure, but not to the point in which it's a constant stress.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

That idea is mentioned in the article, yes.

Edit: apologies. The OP has already pointed this out.