The idea of plant consciousness may be wild, but finding objective ways to probe their inner lives could bring benefits to us all

Life | Leader 24 August 2022

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TAKE a look at that plant sitting on the windowsill or tree in the local park. What might it be feeling? Could it be thinking? Experiments are probing the idea of plant cognition, even going so far as to suggest they possess some form of consciousness.

As wild as it sounds, it isn’t a new idea. The field of “plant neurobiology” began in 2006, aimed at understanding how plants process information from their environment.

It is now clear that plants are capable of complex communication and can intricately sense their surroundings, ideas that were originally dismissed. But proponents of plant …