Plants

… it turns out that he mainly means the ones from religious families: TPP’s basic philosophy was that while you are entitled to your beliefs you are not entitled to avoid discomforting or contradictory ideas, you are not entitled to a free-pass when it comes to a critical analysis of beliefs like yours (individuals were never picked on). After all this is about education. These days parents and students still want the higher education passport, a degree, to jobs and careers, but the current attitude is that when parents present you with a narrow-minded, anti-science, parochial, self-satisified, entitled little twerp, the twerp is to be returned in the same condition, which seems totally antithetic to higher education. Apparently though business Read More ›

We are told that the mistletoe species lacks genes found in all other complex organisms. From ScienceDaily: A discovery made during an analysis of a species of mistletoe whose apparent ability to survive without key genes involved in energy production could make it one of the most unusual plants on Earth. … “This loss of genes very likely corresponds to the loss of an entire respiratory complex,” said Jeff Palmer, IU Distinguished Professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology, who led the study. “This is something that hasn’t been reported before for any multicellular organism.” The genes that have been lost from V. scurruloideum typically reside in the mitochondrial genomes of plants and animals. Read More ›

From New Scientist, reviewing two books: Plants, say the authors, are highly responsive, attuned to gravity, grains of sand, sunlight, starlight, the footfalls of tiny insects and to slow rhythms outside our range. They are subtle, aware, strategic beings whose lives involve an environmental sensitivity very distant from the simple flower and seed factories of popular imagination. More. Here’s a possibility: Our notion of intelligence was actually standardized on human intelligence. Which is of an entirely different type. Intelligence is everywhere in nature, and manifests itself in different ways. Follow UD News at Twitter!