Plants’ Response To Being Eaten Is Very Similar To Our Response To Pain, Researchers Prove

  • 19 Jan - 25 Jan, 2019
  • Mag The Weekly
  • Mag Files

A study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison revealed that when a plant is injured, they release a nervous system-like signal throughout their body, similar to the pain response found in humans and other animals.

When a human is injured, sensory cells in our bodies alert our nervous system to release the neurotransmitter glutamate. This stimulates a part of our brain to release adrenaline, which kicks our fight-or-flight response into gear. Plants don’t have nervous systems but video captured by the scientists behind this new study of injured plants shows that they do have their own version of fight-or-flight when they come under attack.

The astounding video shows for the first time ever just how fast the plant’s response reverberates through their body. According to a statement from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it takes less than two minutes for the signal to reach all ends of the plant, moving at a rate of about one millimeter per second.

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