At Science: “Other bird species may also respond to “calls” from injured plants, recent evidence shows. Two European birds, the great tit and the blue tit, locate insects that are attacking pine trees by detecting the volatile chemicals the stressed trees release … “
Plants
Yes, plants remember things – they seem more like animals the more we learn
People are becoming, more and more obviously outliers all the time. The pop science prediction had been “less and less.”
Plant communications raise the question of intelligence in nature
It’s getting harder to avoid talking about the intelligence in nature and still make sense.
Seeds like airplanes
Alsomitra vine seeds use paper-thin wings to disperse like giant gliders.
If photosynthesis could really be as old as life itself…
Well, that’s good news for the hope of finding life on other planets! But researchers hoping to rush in and save Darwinism should know that if the earliest organisms could photosynthesize, an intelligent origin of life is virtually certain.
Italian ID group interviews Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig (in English)
“Secretary and professional journalist Marco Respinti interviews well known Dr. Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig, retired head researcher at Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research on a fascinating journey through genetics of plants, cybernetics, “sacred cows” and Intelligent Design.”
Horizontal gene transfer between plants and insects acknowledged
So what becomes of all the Darwinian casuistry around “fitness” and “costly fitness” if things can happen so simply as this? The article emphasizes the benefits of studying “evolution.” Indeed, but that can’t mean fronting Darwinism 101 any more.
Tree fern, once considered “evolutionary dead-end,” turns out to have been advanced
Curiously, we keep finding that ancient life forms were more complex or advanced than thought, not that they were simpler and more primitive than thought. What does that imply about the drivers of our expectations?
Caterpillars stifle plants’ chemical warning cries
Findings: “We have discovered a new strategy whereby an insect uses saliva to inhibit the release of airborne plant defenses through direct manipulation of plant stomata,” said Gary Felton, professor and head of the Department of Entomology at Penn State, noting that stomata are tiny pores on plant leaves that regulate gas exchange”
Why did Darwin consider flowers an “abominable mystery”?
He was referring to their abrupt and unaccounted for appearance.
Researchers discover an alarm plants use when attacked by munching critters
Researchers: The receptor detects conserved plant protein fragments accidently released as digestive products during caterpillar munching, thereby enabling plant recognition of attack.
There is now a philosophy of plant biology—and a call for abstracts
Everyone knows plants don’t have minds but they do have a lot of intelligence. Just an accident or part of the intelligence massively inherent in nature? From what source? Darwinism grows increasingly difficult to believe.
Venus fly-trap uses calcium to remember when to shut the trap
Plants communicate in ways that we are only beginning to learn.
Devolution: The “surprising” gene costs of the carnivorous lifestyle to plants
Researchers: “To their surprise, the researchers discovered that the plants do not need a particularly large number of genes for carnivory. Instead, the three species studied are actually among the most gene-poor plants known. ” Yes, because – as Mike Behe says – Darwin Devolves.
Claim: Plants are conscious!
Expect more crazy. Salad is murder, did you know? That time of year.