this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
885 points (97.6% liked)

Science Memes

10340 readers
2737 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 176 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I was told to touch grass, but when I did that it yelled "sexual harassment."

[–] [email protected] 141 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

It only said it licks feet. Gotcha.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

Still going to do the splits

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

Sexual grassment

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

Maybe it was Henry the anti assgrab crabgrass. https://youtu.be/1n7NB-lPJuU

[–] [email protected] 117 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I'm something of a "not a scientist" myself

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago

Did some searching. The paper from 2019 that discussed this -

We recorded 65 dBSPL (dB of sound pressure level) ultrasonic sounds 4 inches (10 cm) from tomato and tobacco plants, implying that these sounds could be detected by some organisms from up to several feet (meters) away.

https://www.sci.news/biology/plants-ultrasonic-clicks-07895.html

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

I would like some weed. As a nonscientist, answers come secondary to weed.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Its legal to "not be a scientist" where I live

[–] [email protected] 107 points 1 month ago (2 children)

"I am not a scientist, I just smoke weed" needs to be a shirt.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I'm not sure what it actually means though

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

"High thoughts," almost like shower thoughts, but driven by weed and, in my experience, learning an interesting fact or tidbit.

So they're not a scientist and don't have formal training in sounds or plants or animals, they learned a fact and got high and connected some dots, haha

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

imagine a shirt that says "I'm not a scientist". it's basically that but if you smoke weed you are obligated to tell everyone unprompted, so this is for weed smokers who want a shirt that says I'm not a scientist.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

a further idea: Front of the shirt says "I am not a scientist"

Back of the shirt says "I just smoke weed"

[–] [email protected] 90 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That explains why my fuzzy terrorist always wants to bite them.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 month ago

Yes, if the plant is screaming at having its leaves torn, my little psychopath would absolutely be like “bite it harder!”

[–] [email protected] 85 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Wait... If the plants are whispering to my cat late at night. Is that why the little fucker spazzes out and goes crazy all over the house at 3 am?

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 month ago

Well, during the day plants are busy working (photosynthesising, defending, sticking pollen to bugs), they only have a chance to get socially chatty at night.

And cats love plant humour.
Except that of succulents. They crunch too much.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That and all the ghost activity at 3am

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 69 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Plants talk? As in rustle with movement or communicate through sound? Can plants hear? The world is amazing, I’ll be on Wikipedia for a few.

[–] [email protected] 96 points 1 month ago

There are high frequency sounds that they emit when they experience certain stimuli, for example when not having enough water or leaves being torn. As far as I know some other plants or insects might be evolutionarily tuned to recognize those sounds and react to them. So yes, in a way plants can talk.

[–] [email protected] 69 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Did some checking, out of curiosity.

And yeah. Interesting as hell.

We recorded 65 dBSPL (dB of sound pressure level) ultrasonic sounds 4 inches (10 cm) from tomato and tobacco plants, implying that these sounds could be detected by some organisms from up to several feet (meters) away.

https://www.sci.news/biology/plants-ultrasonic-clicks-07895.html

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Been waiting 17 years to pull that out, lol. Perfect.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Pineapples dissolve your mouth. Anything with capsaicin is non verbally asking you not to eat it.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 month ago (1 children)

does that mean cats hear house plants scream while they are chewing on their leaves

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago

It's why they do it!

I'm not a cat or a plant scientist.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is what happens when you get too high and Dr Dog - Listening In is playing

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's actually the first time I've seen Dr Dog referenced in the wild (outside of Pat Finnerty's channel.)

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How do we know that sound signals recorded aren’t just from the release of biomolecules? Using the nervous system to produce sound is a more intentional process than the release of biomolecules for chemical signaling, which is something even simple multicellular organism do

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You're right that it doesn't have to be talking. But it is a sound cats and dogs can hear. They do hear the plant noise, which is cool.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

It's cool to us.

I can absolutely confirm that neither cats nor dogs particularly enjoy hearing multiple frequencies in that range, as I use ultrasonic noisemakers to train dogs and cats. Both species have had specific individuals that reacted as though I had just beaten them, and all the individuals of both species reacted in such a way that it was clear that they would do just about anything to never hear those noises again.

That being said, I wonder if they could hear that frequency all the time and were freaked out that a human was shouting in plant language.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Right, but what’s the source of the sound? If it’s not intentionally produced, but rather a chemical reaction or reaction byproduct, then it says something different about plant communication

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I agree, I just don't think it's that relevant to the post, which was more about how our pets experience the world.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

"I can hear the innermost thoughts of plants" - yup, sounds crazy to me! (Therefore let's do it - make it happen!:-)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Sorry to link to CNN but I was skeptical and here's a good enough summary

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/30/world/plants-make-sounds-scn/index.html

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Is it possible to record those higher frequencies and then turn them down so I can hear how noisy it is for my dog at home?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Probably. If astronomers can convert the radio noise stars make into audible sound - and they can - then I don't see why we couldn't pitch adjust background noise to human-audible levels.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm not 100% on the pitching down bit, but key would be to get a mic that has those frequencies in its range.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It would be really neat if someone made a sensor that could tell you whether your plant needs to be watered.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Yeah, I've messed around with water sensors before. I just thought it would be neat to measure it via stress on the plant itself.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›