Talking plants log on
~ researcher Josef Stuefer at Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, led research discovering
~ that plants linked by vegetative networks exchange information to increase their chances of survival
~ they looked at the common clover and discovered that they ‘talk’ through networks to warn of approaching attackers such as caterpillars
~ this is said to has very interesting parallels to electronic networks and early warning systems for military defence purposes
~ attacked plants quickly pass signals along their networks warning others of imminent danger
~ in response, plants on the receiving end of the message make themselves less attractive to advancing insects
~ studies showed that viruses can rapidly spread leading to the infection of all plants