You are currently viewing Communicating by means other than words

Communicating by means other than words

A question most of us wouldn’t even begin asking goes something like this: can plants think and talk?  Do they communicate, not so much with words, but by other means?  After all we are constantly reminded that body language is something humans use all the time to send a message.  And first impressions in terms of personal presentation, especially come interview time, is worth paying attention to.

So maybe it’s not such an odd question to ask: can plants think and talk?  For those who study these things, it’s not such a strange notion, more a matter of are we listening.  Again in human terms we often hear it said, that so and so doesn’t get the point, they just don’t listen in spite of the multiple ways we try to get the message across.

Not to mention that we have blind spots created by our culture and allegiances to various ideologies. Thinking outside the square is how most ‘new’ ideas come into being – all we are doing is discovering what was there all along.

It would seem that plants have been sending messages about life on earth long before we humans came on the scene.  Belatedly it has taken this long for at least some of us to become attuned to what they are saying.

To guide our thinking we hear from Dr Brian Pickles- Lecturer in Ecology University of Reading UK and Monica Gagliano -Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology University of Sydney, is author of Thus Spoke the Plant. For more click the link: Monica Gagliano

Moderator is Chris Daniels Director Cleland Wildlife Park and Adjunct Professorship in Biology University of South Australia and University of Adelaide.

They were featured in the ABC Radio National program Big Ideas presented by  Paul Barclay Monday to Thursday 8pm; Repeated: Tuesday to Friday 2pm and 3am

This program was recorded 7 March 2019 at the Hawke Centre University of South Australia.

Can trees talk and think?

Download audio