Your Houseplant is Smarter Than It Looks

KQED's Forum

There has been a sweeping reevaluation of animal intelligence over the last decade as we’ve realized that all kinds of organisms are smarter than we thought. A similar movement is occurring in the study of plants. Botanists have been discovering that plants have remarkable abilities to communicate, adapt, behave socially, act on stored memories and trick animals among other intelligent behaviors. We talk with author Zoë Schlanger about her new book, “The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth”.

Guests:

Zoë Schlanger, staff writer, The Atlantic; author, "The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth"