Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence

Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence PDF Author: Paco Calvo
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393881091
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
“Weaves science and history into an absorbing exploration of the many ways that plants rise to the challenge of living.” —Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life An astonishing window into the inner world of plants, and the cutting-edge science in plant intelligence. Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they communicate with each other, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is that although plants may not have brains, their internal workings reveal a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them to behave in flexible, forward-looking, and goal-directed ways. In Planta Sapiens, Paco Calvo, a leading figure in the philosophy of plant signaling and behavior, offers an entirely new perspective on plants’ worlds, showing for the first time how we can use tools developed to study animal cognition in a quest to understand plant intelligence. Plants learn from experience: wild strawberries can be taught to link light intensity with nutrient levels in the soil, and flowers can time pollen production to pollinator visits. Plants have social intelligence, releasing chemicals from their roots and leaves to speak to and identify one another. They make decisions about where to invest their growth, judging risk based on the resources available. Their individual preferences vary, too—plants have personalities. Calvo also illuminates how plants inspire technological advancements, from robotics to AI. Most importantly, he demonstrates that plants are not objects: they have their own agency. If we recognize plants as actors alongside us in the climate crisis—rather than seeing them simply as resources for carbon capture and food production—plants may just be able to help us tackle our most urgent problems.

Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence

Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence PDF Author: Paco Calvo
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393881091
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Weaves science and history into an absorbing exploration of the many ways that plants rise to the challenge of living.” —Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life An astonishing window into the inner world of plants, and the cutting-edge science in plant intelligence. Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they communicate with each other, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is that although plants may not have brains, their internal workings reveal a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them to behave in flexible, forward-looking, and goal-directed ways. In Planta Sapiens, Paco Calvo, a leading figure in the philosophy of plant signaling and behavior, offers an entirely new perspective on plants’ worlds, showing for the first time how we can use tools developed to study animal cognition in a quest to understand plant intelligence. Plants learn from experience: wild strawberries can be taught to link light intensity with nutrient levels in the soil, and flowers can time pollen production to pollinator visits. Plants have social intelligence, releasing chemicals from their roots and leaves to speak to and identify one another. They make decisions about where to invest their growth, judging risk based on the resources available. Their individual preferences vary, too—plants have personalities. Calvo also illuminates how plants inspire technological advancements, from robotics to AI. Most importantly, he demonstrates that plants are not objects: they have their own agency. If we recognize plants as actors alongside us in the climate crisis—rather than seeing them simply as resources for carbon capture and food production—plants may just be able to help us tackle our most urgent problems.

Planta Sapiens

Planta Sapiens PDF Author: Paco Calvo
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0393881083
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An astonishing window into the inner world of plants, and the cutting-edge science in plant intelligence. Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they communicate with one another, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is the new evidence that plants may actually be sentient. Although plants may not have brains, their microscopic commerce exposes a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them to behave in adaptive, flexible, anticipatory, and goal-directed ways. A leading figure in the philosophy of plant signaling and behavior, Paco Calvo offers an entirely new perspective on plant biology. In Planta Sapiens, he shows for the first time how wecan use tools developed in animal cognition studies in a quest to deeply understand plant intelligence. He illuminates how plants inspire technological advancements: from robotics and AI to tackling the ecological crisis. Most importantly, he demonstrates that plants are neither objects nor resources; they are agents in themselves, and for themselves.

Planta Sapiens

Planta Sapiens PDF Author: PACO. LAWRENCE CALVO (NATALIE.)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780349128436
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
'A joy to read ... mind-expanding' Book of the Week, Guardian 'A bold and brave paean to our planet's ligneous, leafy kingdom' Telegraph 'An impressive exploration and dazzling insight into the lives of plants' Reaction Book Digest What is it like to be a plant? It's not a question we might think to contemplate, even though many of us live surrounded by plants. Science has long explored the wonderful ways in which plants communicate, behave and shape their environments: from chemical warfare to turning their predators to cannibalism. But they're usually just the backdrop to our frenetic animal lives. While plants may not have brains or move around as we do, cutting-edge science is revealing that they have astonishing inner worlds of an alternate kind to ours. They can plan ahead, learn, recognise their relatives, assess risks and make decisions. They can even be put to sleep. Innovative new tools might allow us to actually see them do these things - from electrophysiological recordings to MRI and PET scans. If you can look in the right way, a world full of drama unfurls. In PLANTA SAPIENS, Professor Paco Calvo offers a bold new perspective on plant biology and cognitive science. Using the latest scientific findings, Calvo challenges us to make an imaginative leap into a world that is so close and yet so alien - one that will expand our understanding of our own minds. From their rich subjective experiences to how they are inspiring novel ways of approaching the ecological crisis, PLANTA SAPIENS is a dazzling exploration of the lives of plants and a call to approach how we think about the natural world in a new, maverick way.

The Revolutionary Genius of Plants

The Revolutionary Genius of Plants PDF Author: Stefano Mancuso
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501187872
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
"In this thought-provoking, handsomely illustrated book, Italian neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso considers the fundamental differences between plants and animals and challenges our assumptions about which is the ‘higher’ form of life.” —The Wall Street Journal “Fascinating…full of optimism…this quick, accessible read will appeal to anyone with interest in how plants continue to surprise us.” —Library Journal Do plants have intelligence? Do they have memory? Are they better problem solvers than people? The Revolutionary Genius of Plants—a fascinating, paradigm-shifting work that upends everything you thought you knew about plants—makes a compelling scientific case that these and other astonishing ideas are all true. Plants make up eighty percent of the weight of all living things on earth, and yet it is easy to forget that these innocuous, beautiful organisms are responsible for not only the air that lets us survive, but for many of our modern comforts: our medicine, food supply, even our fossil fuels. On the forefront of uncovering the essential truths about plants, world-renowned scientist Stefano Mancuso reveals the surprisingly sophisticated ability of plants to innovate, to remember, and to learn, offering us creative solutions to the most vexing technological and ecological problems that face us today. Despite not having brains or central nervous systems, plants perceive their surroundings with an even greater sensitivity than animals. They efficiently explore and react promptly to potentially damaging external events thanks to their cooperative, shared systems; without any central command centers, they are able to remember prior catastrophic events and to actively adapt to new ones. Every page of The Revolutionary Genius of Plants bubbles over with Stefano Mancuso’s infectious love for plants and for the eye-opening research that makes it more and more clear how remarkable our fellow inhabitants on this planet really are. In his hands, complicated science is wonderfully accessible, and he has loaded the book with gorgeous photographs that make for an unforgettable reading experience. The Revolutionary Genius of Plants opens the doors to a new understanding of life on earth.

Brilliant Green

Brilliant Green PDF Author: Stefano Mancuso
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610916034
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
In this book, a leading plant scientist offers a new understanding of the botanical world and a passionate argument for intelligent plant life. Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? For centuries, philosophers and scientists have argued that plants are unthinking and inert, yet discoveries over the past fifty years have challenged this idea, shedding new light on the complex interior lives of plants. In Brilliant Green, leading scientist Stefano Mancuso presents a new paradigm in our understanding of the vegetal world. He argues that plants process information, sleep, remember, and signal to one another-showing that, far from passive machines, plants are intelligent and aware. Part botany lesson, part manifesto, Brilliant Green is an engaging and passionate examination of the inner workings of the plant kingdom.--

Plant Behaviour and Intelligence

Plant Behaviour and Intelligence PDF Author: A. J. Trewavas
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199539545
Category : Intellect
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
This book provides a convincing argument for the view that whole cells and whole plants growing in competitive wild conditions show aspects of plant behaviour that can be accurately described as 'intelligent'. Trewavas argues that behaviour, like intelligence, must be assessed within the constraints of the anatomical and physiological framework of the organism in question. The fact that plants do not have centralized nervous systems for example, does not exclude intelligent behaviour. Outside the human dimension, culture is thought largely absent and fitness is the biological property of value. Thus, solving environmental problems that threaten to reduce fitness is another way of viewing intelligent behaviour and has a similar meaning to adaptively variable behaviour. The capacity to solve these problems might be considered to vary in different organisms, but variation does not mean absence. By extending these ideas into a book that allows a critical and amplified discussion, the author hopes to raise an awareness of the concept of purposive behaviour in plants.

Gaia's Garden

Gaia's Garden PDF Author: Toby Hemenway
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603580298
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
This extensively revised and expanded edition broadens the reach and depth of the permaculture approach for urban and suburban gardeners. The text's message is that working with nature, not against it, results in more beautiful, abundant, and forgiving gardens.

What a Plant Knows

What a Plant Knows PDF Author: Daniel Chamovitz
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0374288739
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Explores the secret lives of various plants, from the colors they see to whether or not they really like classical music to their ability to sense nearby danger.

Botanical Art from the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery

Botanical Art from the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery PDF Author: Anna Laurent
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022632110X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, wall charts were a familiar classroom component, displaying scientific images at a large scale, in full color. But it's only now that they've been superseded as a teaching tool that we have begun to realize something their ubiquity hid: they are stunning examples of botanical art at its finest. This beautifully illustrated oversized book gives the humble wall chart its due, reproducing more than two hundred of them in dazzling full color. Each wall chart is accompanied by captions that offer accessible information about the species featured, the scientists and botanical illustrators who created it, and any particularly interesting or innovative features the chart displays. And gardeners will be pleased to discover useful information about plant anatomy and morphology and species differences. We see lilies and tulips, gourds, aquatic plants, legumes, poisonous plants, and carnivorous plants, all presented in exquisite, larger-than-life detail. A unique fusion of art, science, and education, the wall charts gathered here offer a glimpse into a wonderful scientific heritage and are sure to thrill naturalists, gardeners, and artists alike.

Louis Agassiz

Louis Agassiz PDF Author: Christoph Irmscher
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547577672
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
A provocative new life restoring Agassiz--America's most famous natural scientist of the 19th century, inventor of the Ice Age, stubborn anti-Darwinist--to his glorious, troubling place in science and culture.