Plants’ Distress Noises and Contributions of Jagadish Chandra Bose

April 19, 2023

Plants are often thought of as silent, passive beings that lack the ability to communicate. However, recent research by a group of scientists at Tel Aviv University has challenged this notion. The group, led by biologist Lilach Hadany, has discovered that plants emit distinct, high-pitched sounds in the ultrasonic range when subjected to stress or distress.

The Kind of Sound Plants Make When in Distress

The Tel Aviv University group’s study involved recording and analyzing the sounds made by tomato and tobacco plants when subjected to various stressors, such as cutting a leaf or withholding water. The researchers found that the plants emitted sounds that were not audible to the human ear but could be detected with special equipment. The sounds were described as very distinct, high-pitched sounds in the ultrasonic range.

Jagadish Chandra Bose, the Pioneer in Plant Physiology

The idea that plants experience sensations and have the ability to feel pleasure and pain, similar to animals, is not new. In fact, several generations of Indians grew up hearing about Jagadish Chandra Bose, a colossal figure of Indian science who was a physicist-turned-biologist and made pioneering contributions in both fields. Bose is considered the first Indian to have made a powerful impact on modern science.

Bose’s Contributions to Science

Bose is best remembered for his work on the wireless transmission of signals and the physiology of plants. He is credited as one of the first contributors to solid-state physics and published 12 papers on radio waves in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Despite his accomplishments, Bose was not recognized as the sole inventor of the radio, which went to Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian scientist.

Bose’s Focus on Plant Physiology

In the early years of the 20th century, Bose abruptly began to focus his attention on plants. Prior to this, he was a physicist and had made pioneering contributions in the field of wireless transmission of signals and solid-state physics. Bose was extremely talented at picking electric signals and was extremely creative at making instruments. His simple experiments revealed a high degree of similarity in the responses of plant and animal tissues to external stimuli.

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