Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Scientists may soon be able to translate the languages plants use to communicate

Published Sep 20th, 2024 5:09PM EDT
miracle plant
Image: scimmery1 / Adobe

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

We may very well be able to translate plant languages soon, scientists claim. While you might think of plants as passive objects just existing on our planet, they are, in fact, living beings, and they communicate with each other quite extensively. What’s especially intriguing is that plant communication systems may actually be far more complex than we ever imagined.

According to a report posted to The Conversation, scientists believe that plants communicate using systems that are both in balance and sensitive to the world around them. As such, these systems can be easily disrupted, similar to how cloud networks can be disrupted—causing issues for businesses around the world.

Recently, scientists discovered that plants ’ communication systems can send various electrical signals through their root systems, and they’ve been trying to figure out how to translate those signals. And with recent advancements in how we monitor crops and other plants, we may soon be able to understand those communications a bit more effectively.

mangrove treesImage source: ballllad / Adobe

This would, of course, prove very helpful for learning more about plants like the world’s largest living organism, which continues to fight the good fight of survival against climate change. One way we’re learning more about how plants communicate is by inserting small electrical probes into their root systems.

This allows us to test how the electrical signals change throughout the plant as different things happen to them. The hope is that we’ll soon be able to fully translate the language used by the plant’s communication systems when they talk to each other. This could help us better predict what is wrong with crops and other things.

Of course, many factors can affect exactly how plants talk to each other, including climate change, deforestation, and changes to the chemical nature of the soil they live in.

Josh Hawkins has been writing for over a decade, covering science, gaming, and tech culture. He also is a top-rated product reviewer with experience in extensively researched product comparisons, headphones, and gaming devices.

Whenever he isn’t busy writing about tech or gadgets, he can usually be found enjoying a new world in a video game, or tinkering with something on his computer.