The Audible Cries of Stressed Tobacco

[deluxestogie]

Tobacco and Tomatoes Audibly Cry Out When Distressed

Drawing by Liana Wait

It's loud, but you can't hear it, because the pitch is too high for the human ear.

"What does a stressed plant sound like? A bit like bubble-wrap being popped. Researchers in Israel report in the journal Cell on March 30 [2023] that tomato and tobacco plants that are stressed—from dehydration or having their stems severed—emit sounds that are comparable in volume to normal human conversation."

And apparently, artificial intelligence (AI) can tell the difference between cries for water and cries from injury.

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-stressed-emit-airborne-meter.html

The article linked above also includes an audio (dumbed-down to a lower frequency, so we can hear it).

Bob

 

[Chumco]

Very interesting.

Also, I find it funny how they commissioned a drawing of a plant next to a microphone while they have photographs of the exact same thing.

 

[deluxestogie]

I was just now wondering what agonizing, ultrasonic cries might be coming from the Tater-Tots in my toaster oven.

Bob

EDIT: I think I'm going to choose the red pill: ketchup.

 

[TigerTom]

Fascinating. I recall seeing an interesting demonstration on TV back in the 80s where some sort of electrical meter was connected to a philodendron and nearby was a woman with a small cut on her hand. A third person put iodine in the cut which caused it to sting, and there was an electrical response from the plant. I haven't been able to locate that one, but in just searching for it again I found this rather interesting video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW-u-cC86FI


Can't see how controlled the experiment was, but it's interesting nonetheless.

 

[Plinsc]

Haha! People are going to be screaming murderer at vegans now

 

[Bottenslam]

Very interesting, piezo transdusers should be able to pick up these vibrations. With a bit of luck so can my soundcard. So much to do, so little time.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I like this guy for some reason.

 

[deluxestogie]

Why listen to plants, when you can listen to dirt?

"From earthworms and plant roots to shifting soils and other underground activity, these subtle sounds were stronger and more diverse in healthy soils—once background noise was blocked out."​

The subterranean study used special microphones to collect almost 200 sound samples, each about three minutes long, from soil samples collected in restored and cleared forests in South Yorkshire, England.​

​

The sound of restored soil: Measuring soil biodiversity with eco-acoustics

U.K. and Australian ecologists have used audio technology to record different types of sounds in the soils of a degraded and restored forest to indicate the health of ecosystems.

phys.org

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Interesting but definitely sounds like some hippies that fell down a rabbit hole! "Far out, man! The dirt is talking, man."

 

[Patriotguy]

So how are the sounds created from the plants?

 

[deluxestogie]

I would guess the sounds are created by the simple movement of stuff within constrained plant tissue structures. Perhaps a crude example might be the sound of a toilet "glug" after flushing.

Bob

 

[Bottenslam]

I would guess the sounds are created by the simple movement of stuff within constrained plant tissue structures. Perhaps a crude example might be the sound of a toilet "glug" after flushing.

Bob

Stuff mainly being water here i would guess, im thinking like movement in plants being driven by changes in waterpressure...

 

[deluxestogie]

Mainly water, but with varying concentrations of an assortment of solutes. Plus cavitation in fluid movement. Plus structural stresses resulting from turgor-induced bending.

Bob

 

[Bottenslam]

Now that you say it i remember cavition is belived to be a big contribute in this...
I saw a video on the subject a while back.

View: https://youtu.be/mucAJW6qEvk


I guess the questions is does other plants respond to sound prodused by another plant?

 

[deluxestogie]

other plants respond

They roll their eyes. We have well documented that distant plants respond to certain volatile compounds released by damaged plant tissue. [e.g. jasmonate: the smell of freshly cut grass. We enjoy it, while other plants begin to look over their shoulders, and prepare their own defenses.] Tree roots also make sounds that their massive networks of associated fungi apparently respond to.

Darwin "says" that populations of living things self-select to be responsive to any stimulus that enhances the population's survival. Humans crinkle their noses at the aroma of spoiled meat, and set their brains into an alert mode when they hear rustling noises in the dark.

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

Sitting on my tractor sipping a beverage and smoking a cigg relaxing. I can hear my baccy plants grow, they have to be at least 3 ft tall tho.