Plants may just besmarter than you think, according to a new study by an international team of researchers, published in Current Biology this week.
By studying the decisions plants made when presented in environments with different nutrient levels, plants showed a remarkable ability to take calculated risks in order to secure the maximum amount of nutrients.
Let’s say you have a pretty good job. You earn a decent amount of money, enough to pay your bills. It’s a stable gig, not great, but good enough. Then an opportunity at a startup comes along. But it’s risky. It could pay off big, but it could also massively fail and then you’d become unemployed. What to do? Most people would stay put. But let’s pretend your stable job isn’t enough to pay the bills. In that case, it makes more sense to take the riskier option. Scientists have studied these kinds of decisions and developed rules that most people seem to follow, an area of research known as risk sensitivity theory. This field also applies to animals (they usually take the riskier of two choices
