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“A plant sees what we see. A plant sees light.”
Daniel Chamovitz, director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University and author of the new book What a Plant Knows.
“So if you take someone who’s completely blind and by surgery in some way giving them a camera, allow them to see just shadows, would we see that that person now has rudimentary sight? He doesn’t see pictures, but for that person being able to differentiate shadows is definitely sight. If we would let them be able to differentiate between red and blue, then that would be even slightly more sight.
“That’s what plants do. They don’t see pictures. But they see colors, they see directions, they see intensities. But on a certain level, plants might think that we’re visually limited. Because plants see things that we can’t see. They see UV light and they see far red light, and we can’t see that at all. So I think we can say that plants see. It knows quite a bit, much more than we give them credit for.”
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
[Hear the entire interview with Daniel Chamovitz on an upcoming episode of the Scientific American Science Talk podcast.]
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17 Comments
Add CommentThere is a big difference between a plant's response to light stimuli and stating that they "see".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe I shouldn't turn my back on the sack of potatoes. "They" watched me dismember some of their friends...
there is a difference between sight and vision. vision is processed sight; when sight is interpreted and presented in context. vision requires some sort of brain power.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMany plants sense and respond to light by moving or opening and closing parts of themselves. They therefore have very a rudimentary sense of sight, and enough sentience to act on it. It's more than a simple photosensitive chemical reaction, less than voluntary motion, and more along the lines of physical reflex.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne could argue that they have the same level of brainpower as sunbathers who get up and move when something blocks the sunlight that will prematurely shrivel and spot their skin, increasing their risk of skin cancer.
Except for the most primitive, organic life forms are aware of their surroundings. They feel the materials - touch. They sense the chemicals - taste/smell. They feel the vibrations - hear. They feel radiant energies - see, sense heat/cold.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes they analyze all these in their own peculiar ways and even respond to all or some of these in their own way.
Speaking of senses, it sounds like Dr. Chamovitz has spent too much time in the sun.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this28 definitions of "see" on dictionary.com and none of them agree with his interpretation. There are biochemical reactions that plants respond to in the presence of different wavelengths of light that trigger different responses. They do not "perceive with the eyes; look at" light.
Light response in plants is probably much the same way that they respond to gravimetric changes in their environment during shoot development. Changes in orientation cause accumulation of auxin to settle on the interior of the cell wall due to gravity. This triggers differential growth depending on whether the cell is in the root or the stem. Based on this, would anyone say the plant "sees" gravity?
I'm going with SciGuy31's comments... Proposing that plants "see" light is stretching the definition. I can lay on my stomach on the beach and close my eyes. I don't see the sun. My back responds by burning. Does that mean my back was "seeing" light? No. It means that I was stupid enough to lay in the sun without proper sunscreen.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm sure his book will give some physical proof that plants can see. Just like my potatoes have eyes.
In reply to SciGuy31's comment:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(1) In this case, we may not need to depend on Dictionaries to interpret word "see", since this discovery/argument is new... if true, dictionaries will add this new meaning also, in future.
(2) "gravity" may be "felt", not necessarily "seen"... e.g., we "feel" touch, not "see"... these are all senses... latest mobiles "sense" direction with an inbuilt compas, most humans can't without help of sun... I guess we have a sense of "gravity"... otherwise, why do we feel something in the groin when racing down in a gaint wheel?
Basically, I think "see", "hear", "smell" etc are various senses... we sense, understand, respond (with "knowledge" or without)... different organisms may have different mechanisms for these, based on their needs.
Me too - very perceptive of you both!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI love this kind of debate.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI dunno - can YOU "see" gravity?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh boy....hand in hand with this nutty idea is the idea that plants can think, feel, reason, have families, send their little planty kids to school, dream and scheme for a future and of course.....vote.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think that Perfesser Chamovitz is spending way too much time along.
Next we'll be hearing plants possess other "human" characteristics like the use of tools, speech, and reality TV.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscould anyone tell me what "we give them credit for" means?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthx~
Some that have grown TickleMe Plant are amazed how the plant reacts to being Tickled. Who knows maybe they can really feel it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee video and by all means grow one.
http://www.ticklemeplant.com
Some think a TickleMe Plant can feel it when you Tickle It..as the leaves close and the branches fall down.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI love my pet Tickle Me Plant
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisawesome
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