http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/science/10plant.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ei=5087&em&en=484cb
A really interesting article about plant sensing. A bit O/T here but I'm
posting it after the recent neurons discussion, because it all suggests that
the control systems of living systems may indeed be considerably more
complex than we are aware of. And I'd be interested if it prompts any
speculations at all in that area, however wild. (I found Richard's idea
about neuronal clusters interesting - anything similar/related v. welcome).
Some more:
"At the extreme of the equality movement, but still within mainstream
science, are the members of the Society of Plant Neurobiology, a new group
whose Web site describes it as broadly concerned with plant sensing.
The very name of the society is enough to upset many biologists.
Neurobiology is the study of nervous systems - nerves, synapses and brains -
that are known just in animals. That fact, for most scientists, makes the
notion of plant neurobiology a combination of impossible, misleading and
infuriating.
Thirty-six authors from universities that included Yale and Oxford were
exasperated enough to publish an article last year, "Plant Neurobiology: No
Brain, No Gain?" in the journal Trends in Plant Science. The scientists
chide the new society for discussing possibilities like plant neurons and
synapses, urging that the researchers abandon such "superficial analogies
and questionable extrapolations."
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agi
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