Rakshan Patnaik Week 16: The Plant that Stores Memory
For all this quarter, we have discussed the ins-and-outs of human memory, computer memory, and memory disorders. So, for my very last blog of this year, I wanted to talk about something not mentioned—plant memory. Yes, you read this right. Plant Memory. If you are not researcher Monica Gagliano (the researcher who discovered this phenomenon), you likely thought plants could not remember anything, like me. Robert Krulwich, the author of this National Geographic article, thought the same thing. I was stunned reading his article, when I realized that in one case, plants could remember.
This plant is called the Mimosa Pudica, or “the sensitive plant.” Krulwich attached this YouTube video (which has 4 million views as of writing this), and it was just phenomenal to watch. Basically, this plant curls up at any touch or contact. Whether it is a small nudge or a large jerk, the plant, including its leaves and stem, curls up. Researcher Monica Gagliano did a test using this plant. Gagliano potted 56 Mimosa Pudica, and put them through a device that dropped the plant six inches 60 times each. Her research question was “Could a plant use memory to change its behavior?”
Fairly quickly, Gagliano found out that some plants would not close their leaves fully when dropped. In other words, these individuals realized that the drop was not going to hurt them. Through the experiment, more and more stopped applying this mechanism, and Gagliano says that by the end of the 60 drops, the plants “were completely open” and “couldn’t care less anymore” (Krulwich). Yet, when shaked vigorously, the plants curled up. Even better—when Gagliano tested these plants through the drops the next day, they did not curl. This no-curl behavior continued for 28 days, or basically a month! For plants, that is a long time to store memory. But now, a new question arises: How do the Mimosa Pudicae do it?
Though Krulwich’s article indicates that there is no concrete research on how these plants store memory, Gagliano, in her research paper about the topic, mentions that plants possess a “sophisticated … signaling network” (Gagliano). Yet this idea that plants have memory is widely unpopular among biologists; Gagliano was apparently “dismissed” by many biologists at a scientific conference for indicating that plants have “animal-like behaviors” (Krulwich). They say this because plants do not have a brain, like humans. Yet Monica Gagliano remains undeterred. Possibly her most revolutionary takeaway is that “the process of remembering may not require the conventional neural networks and pathways of animals” and that the way that humans remember is “just one possible, undeniably sophisticated, solution” but not a requirement for the attribute of retaining memories. Maybe one day, further research into the Mimosa Pudica could prove her hypothesis right.
Oh! I have actually seen and interacted with this plant before. I remember finding it super cool, but I did not realize that it was related to the plant storing memory. It is really fascinating to find out that humans are not the only species who can retain some sort of memory. Monica Gagliano's research seems a bit like plant abuse after dropping plants and traumatizing them that many times, but hopefully no plants were harmed in the process. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan! Omg! I also love this plant, but I've never considered hypotheses of plants being able to store memory, especially because they do not have brains. I've seen these plants a few times on the quarry lakes trail. Hopefully more research will be put into the Mimosa Pudica because I too am intrigued by Gagliano's hypothesis.
ReplyDeleteHey Rakshan, I used to play with this plant a lot in India, where people call them “touch me not” plants. I had no idea that these plants could choose not to curl up because they always did when I touched them. I think this has to do with the concept of conditional learning introduced by Pavlov. His experiments were done with a dog and rang a bell every time he was going to feed the dog. After some time, the dog salivated at the sound of the bell even when no food was given. However, I am still confused about how the plant was able to do this without neural networks. Does this mean that all living things have some sort of memory?
ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan, I absolutely love how for your last blog, you decided to step away from things we have already talked about multiple times and come to something I don't think any of us thought of, plant memory. Not going to lie, I often forget that it even exists so I definitely would not have thought of that. The plant you mentioned is a plant I've come across people and I just adore how it looks. It stands out from other simpler and more seen plants which is another reason why I like it so much. It's really interesting how you connected this one plant to plants storing memory. You really went outside the box for this one, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan,
ReplyDeleteI did not know that plants could move like that! How can the leaves even bend? And how does curling up protect the plant? The reaction seems to be similar to a human reflex. Similar to faking a punch in front of someone’s face to make them flinch. After getting “almost” punched in the face fifty times, one probably will not flinch immediately anymore. However, when someone scares you from behind, you might still flinch, or when a bunch of bees are flying at you, you will probably scrunch your eyes and begin swatting around for your life. Whether it be the plant consciously finding the tap non-threatening or unconsciously becoming immune to the event, some sort of neural connection is being made and I cannot see how biologists can refute that.
Hi Rakshan! My mom is super obsessed with plants and she used to have these specific plants! I remember playing with them when I was younger but I had no idea such a curious plant would be related to memory. Learning more about how this plant stores memories may lead us to even more innovative developments regarding memory storage in the future.
ReplyDeleteHey Rakshan, we actually used to have these same exact plants in our background and I used to play with them every day. I never realized that they had the ability to store memory though in addition to just reacting to touch. It's really interesting that plants also have the capabilities of learned behaviors, and I wonder what else plants can do that we don't yet know of. If full fledged humans were able to evolve from a single bacteria, it seems completely plausible that plants are also able to evolve in such a sophisticated manner.
ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan, this is a really interesting phenomenon because I also read a recent paper about plant communication. Plants communicate with each other and even talk to each other through fungal connections. It seems like communication and memory aren't exclusive to animals—it may be some sort of convergent evolutionary mechanism that allows plants to operate in many ways like us.
ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan, this was really interesting to read about. I really enjoyed learning about this sensitive plant. It made me wonder how it evolved. It also made me think of how we as humans collectively think of “memory,” and how we define memory exists from our own point of view. Other species, including plants, may have a different scientific way that their memory works. But, plants too are living things even if they don’t have a human-like brain. They must have some type of innate (or environmental) intelligence or conditioning mechanism that influences “behavior.” Your blog also questions whether it is always only the human-centric perspective we should be looking at. Maybe we can learn and gain a lot more if we choose to think about things in non-conforming ways.
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