I can't help thinking about the late, great Douglas Adams when reading this (and just about any scientific article).<p>In the first Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, upon firing the Infinite Improbability Drive while trying to escape two missiles (with nuclear warheads attached), the missiles turned into a very surprised sperm whale and a bowl of petunias.<p>He goes on to describe "what went through the head of the whale", with a long dialog about coming to terms with its life (while shortly having to come to terms with no longer having one).<p>"Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was 'Oh no, not again'. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now."<p>Silliness aside, it's fascinating seeing unexpected discoveries like this -- and something like this really does underscore how large the body of knowledge is that "we don't know" about biology, in general.
Far more interesting than the mimosa plant is the fact that Gagliano went on to perform Pavlov's experiment with pea plants - successfully.<p>She trained Pea Plants to associate airflow with light, causing them to grow towards a breeze expecting it to soon be followed with light.<p>That shows far more than just desensitization memory.<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/pavlovs-plants-new-study-shows-plants-can-learn-from-experience-69794" rel="nofollow">https://theconversation.com/pavlovs-plants-new-study-shows-p...</a>
I remember reading : The presence of the past by Rupert Sheldrake and thinking it was a little bit too much pseudo science personally, but it did raise some interesting questions that I don't think have been resolved.<p>It's an interesting thought experiment for me though to imagine.<p>Another interesting one is the box jellyfish with eyes yet appear to not have any brains for processing the images : <a href="https://www.livescience.com/13929-box-jellyfish-eyes-navigation-brain.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.livescience.com/13929-box-jellyfish-eyes-navigat...</a>
There are some studies that show that Bacteria also have memories. This shows that the memory can also be stored in other places than neurons.<p>Some examples:<p>Bacteria can pass on memory to descendants, researchers discover
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-04-bacteria-memory-descendants.html" rel="nofollow">https://phys.org/news/2018-04-bacteria-memory-descendants.ht...</a><p>Collective memory discovered in bacteria
<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160307153047.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160307153047.h...</a><p>Bacteria become “genomic tape recorders”
<a href="https://news.mit.edu/2014/bacteria-storage-device-memory-1113" rel="nofollow">https://news.mit.edu/2014/bacteria-storage-device-memory-111...</a><p>And slime mold (TED talk)
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UxGrde1NDA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UxGrde1NDA</a>
> <i>Plants, they </i>[mainstream botanists] <i>insist, are mainly genetic robots</i><p>Interestingly, that's what many people thought about animals too; Descartes famously described animals (all animals, including usual pets like dogs, etc.) as machines, mindless robots.<p>It's already common knowledge that plants communicate with one another about danger; why shouldn't they remember? Just because we don't know <i>how</i> doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
The capacity to respond at all implies "memory", so this is a beat-up title. However, do the plants obtain sensory input regarding the artificial motion in a similar fashion to that in which they become aware of wind? If so, even given that vicious winds could be damaging (1) different places will inevitably have different wind levels and these could changes seasonally or with microclimatic variation (eg. fallen trees) (2) plants can't exactly get up and move. Therefore, some adaptability with respect to local conditions should be expected. I would be surprised if there isn't more advanced research in this area.