It's been known for a while that some plants are able to
communicate with each other through chemical signaling — but new
research published in Trends in Plant Science now suggests that
plants not only respond to sounds as well, they can also talk to
each other, by making "clicking" sounds. Plants like cabbage can
emit a volatile gas, namely methyl jasmonate, that warns their
vegetative brethren that a herbivore is in the ‘hood — annoying
things like caterpillars or garden shears. This got Exeter
University scientist Monica Gagliano thinking that maybe other
plants could perform a similar trick, but with sounds. And her
intuition was right. She, along with fellow researchers Stefano
Mancuso and Daniel Robert, used powerful acoustic
instrumentation which allowed them to hear clicking sounds
coming from the roots of corn saplings. They also found that
when they suspended the young roots in water and played a
continuous noise at 200 Hz – a similar frequency to the clicks –
the plants grew towards the source of t