Ultrasonic microphones prove plants make sounds

Those who talk to plants may not be so wrong: Research published March 30 in the journalism Cell showed that plants normally make sounds when exposed to a state of stress. Besides, Each identified ultrasonic pattern can be associated with a different type of organic reaction to different environmental stimuli..

The discovery was recorded on loudspeakers by researchers at Tel Aviv University, who recorded and classified the distinctive sounds emitted by plants. inaudible to the human ear, click sounds, It’s like popping popcorn, achieves a volume similar to that of our speech, but at higher frequencies.

According to the study’s principal investigator, Professor Lilach Hadany of Wise College of Life Sciences, before testing the plants in loudspeakers, “we subjected them to various treatments: some plants had not been watered for five days, some had stems cut and others left untouched”.

How were plant sounds recorded?

The work began by placing the plants on a speaker in a quiet basement without any background noise. Using ultrasonic microphones, the researchers recorded sounds at frequencies between 20 and 250 kilohertz. well above the frequency of 16 kHz, the maximum frequency that can be detected by a human.

Focusing mainly on tomato and tobacco plants, Scientists began to test whether the sounds of these plants were affected by their current state.. The recordings recorded plants emitting sound at frequencies from 40 to 80 kWz. Unstressed plants made less than one noise per hour, while stressed plants (dehydrated or injured) made “dozens of noises every hour.”

Hadany says the recordings, analyzed by specially programmed machine learning algorithms, show that the plants not only make sounds, but that these recordings can be “detected by nearby creatures such as bats, rodents, various insects” to extract relevant information. “We believe that people can also use this knowledge with the right tools“, speculating.