TOW #19 The Intelligent Plant (Michael Pollan)

     

Mimosa pudica, or the Sensitive Plant, has been shown to "learn" from its environment and change its behavior accordingly.

     Mimosa pudica, the plant famous for its leaves that curl rapidly when disturbed (see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o18UUSJgQA), shakes violently and clenches its leaves. However, after 15 repeated shakes, the plants leaves begin to open. It has sustained no damage from the rhythmic jerking, and and begins to open its leaves again. In its own, botanical way, the plant has learned from its environment. The jerking stops, and resumes an hour later. The plant's leaves stay open. The jerking ends once more, and does not begin again until an entire month has passed. But Mimosa pudica does not react.

     This kind of "conditioning" in plants constitutes one of the most fascinating and controversial disciplines in life science: Plant Neurobiology. Often branded as anthropomorphising, Plant Neurobiology seeks to explain the intricate ways plants actively interact with their environment. Michael Pollan, in his article The Intelligent Plant, masterfully combined opinions and research on both side of the heated debate, while including enough anecdotal research and testimonies (such as the study above, by Monica Gagliano) compiled after an apparently long time.

     He begins at the extreme beginning of the plant neurobiology, a book titled The Secret Life of Plants. Contained within The New Yorker, a magazine with a wide variety of articles per issue, Pollan begins with these radical ideas to pique a peruser's interest. In the mentioned book, Cleve Backster describes plants that are able to pick out people who have killed other plants, respond to a distressed human, and exhibit sympathy. By beginning with this radical stance and fascinating examples, even though Pollan shows how they were all discredited, he effectively entertains his audience and draws them in.

    Pollan's goal in the article is not to provide credibility to plant neurobiology, it is simply to show the different sizes and simplify the mounting research in this amazing and applicable field. He himself describes lectures on the subject "highly technical" and a "kind of incremental science," something not likely to be popularized. To add intrigue, he employs imagery and anecdotes, such as the one I began by reciting, to interest his audience with radical research that can elicit contention or wonder.

   Overall, the article was very impressive. Pollan, though not an expert on the subject, clearly did a significant amount of research and applied his sources very well. He showed little bias, though he did include more stories of plants acting like animals than the professors who scoffed at the notion; I assume this is because they are simply more interesting.