Can plants hear?

Flora may be able to detect the sounds of flowing water or munching insects

Pseudoscientific claims that music helps plants grow have been made for decades, despite evidence that is shaky at best. Yet new research suggests some flora may be capable of sensing sounds, such as the gurgle of water through a pipe or the buzzing of insects.

In a recent study, Monica Gagliano, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Western Australia, and her colleagues placed pea seedlings in pots shaped like an upside-down Y. One arm of each pot was placed in either a tray of water or a coiled plastic tube through which water flowed; the other arm had dry soil. The roots grew toward the arm of the pipe with the fluid, regardless of whether it was easily accessible or hidden inside the tubing. “They just knew the water was there, even if the only thing to detect was the sound of it flowing inside the pipe,” Gagliano says. Yet when the seedlings were given a choice between the water tube and some moistened soil, their roots favored the latter. She hypothesizes that these plants use sound waves to detect water at a distance but follow moisture gradients to home in on their target when it is closer.

The research, reported earlier this year in Oecologia, is not the first to suggest flora can detect and interpret sounds. A 2014 study showed the rock cress Arabidopsis can distinguish between caterpillar chewing sounds and wind vibrations – the plant produced more chemical toxins after “hearing” a recording of feeding insects. “We tend to underestimate plants because their responses are usually less visible to us. But leaves turn out to be extremely sensitive vibration detectors,” says lead study author Heidi M. Appel, an environmental scientist now at the University of Toledo.

Avoiding Aggressive Driving

The amount of aggressive driving is increasing on our roads. Some of the signs of an aggressive driver include a person who changes lanes abruptly to pass a slower driver, a driver who tailgates in an attempt to get another driver to speed up, and a driver who curses at other drivers. They put themselves and others at risk on the roads. A variety of studies have revealed certain traits common in aggressive drivers. If a person is ever pursued by an aggressive driver, he or she should ask someone in the car to call 911 or drive to a nearby police station. […] Finally, people who engage in aggressive driving behaviors take the chance of injuring or killing themselves and other drivers.

A violência no trânsito é um dos grandes problemas da sociedade contemporânea. O número de motoristas agressivos tem crescido cada vez mais nas estradas.

Germany prepares adaptation of the TV Series “Merlí”

“Merlí”, the new TV3 series produced by Nova Veranda, based on an original idea and script by Héctor Lozano, directed by Eduard Cortés and starring Francesc Orella, will soon arrive Germany. A deal selling rights to the “Merlí” format will allow German audiovisual group Beta to adapt the adventures of this peculiar philosophy teacher and his favorite pupils, the Peripatetics.
The series “Merlí” finished shooting its third and last season last week, and its plot revolves around philosophy professor Merlí Bergeron (Francesc Orella). Like a modern-day Aristotle, Merlí chooses a group of High School students whom he teaches to reflect upon and question all aspects of life. This atypical, multifaceted professor confounds everyone around him as he encourages his students to set goals and objectives, sometimes using questionable methods.
The series continues to reap huge international success and is now preparing its arrival in Germany hand-in-hand with Beta thanks to an agreement with its international distributor Lagardère Studios Distribution, a strategic partner for Nova Veranda’s parent company Boomerang TV. This is not the first time the series has crossed borders. It has already aired through Netflix in the Spanish-speaking U.S. and in Latin America as well as on Canal Plus France’s Cinema+ Famillie network.
In this most recent agreement, the Beta Group has acquired the rights to adapt “Merlí” for the German market. In Spain, Movistar+ acquired broadcast rights for the series, which airs on the platform. The series is available nationwide for all of the platform’s subscribers and can be seen in its original (Catalonian) version with Castillian subtitles. “Merlí” has also been acquired by ETB for the Basque Country, where it will be dubbed into Euskera.

From: https://goo.gl/UcYXP9. Accessed on 04/25/2018

Quando a dimensão da tela de uma TV é indicada em polegadas, tal valor se refere à medida da diagonal do retângulo que representa a tela. Considere uma TV retangular de 16 polegadas e outra de 21 polegadas.

Stars do it. Sports do it. Judges in the highest courts do it. Let's do it: that yoga thing.