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.

Read the text below. Fill in the blanks with the right conjunctions.

In today's world, (I) _________________ just about everything is more convenient and accessible due to advances in technology across almost all sectors, it may seem (II)_________________ it's a misnomer to even mention any disadvantages of technological advances. (III) ________________, despite how far technology has taken humans and no matter (IV) ___________ convenient it may make things, there are some disadvantages accompanying this level of access.

Technology advances show people a more efficient way to do things, and these processes get results. For example, education has been greatly advanced by the technological advances of computers. Students are able to learn on a global scale without ever leaving their classrooms. Agricultural processes (V)________________ once required dozens upon dozens of human workers can now be automated, thanks to advances in technology, which means cost-efficiency for farmers. Medical discoveries occur at a much more rapid rate, thanks to machines and computers that aid in the research process and allow for more intense educational research into medical matters.

Cost efficiency is an advantage in some ways and a disadvantage in others. (VI) ________________ technology improves on existing processes and showcases new ways to accomplish tasks, machines are able to produce the same -- if not more -- output (VII) ________________ humans in certain industries. This results in cost savings for business owners, allowing them to invest in growth in other areas of the business, (VIII) _________________ contributes on a positive level to the economy as a whole.

The Best Fifa Women’s Player

Marta

There are not many superlatives left to describe the magnificent talents of Marta. The Brazilian legend is quite simply one of the greatest players to have graced the game and that stance atop football’s podium has been strengthened after being named The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2018.

This year’s nomination to be the top women’s player on the planet was – incredibly – the 14th time that she has been labelled among the elite and 2018 represented the 12th time that she had been named in the top three. This year’s crowning as The Best is the sixth time she has been elected the world’s top women’s player.

But her coronation is not simply for her longevity, it is for her outstanding achievements during 2017/18, where she captained Brazil to the Copa america title and helped her club side Orlando Pride to a long run in arguably the most challenging women’s league in world football: the USA’s National Women’s Soccer League. Still going strong at 32, there is no doubt that Marta can be among the elite for many more years to come.

TEXTO I

TILLERSON CONDEMNS RACISM, CALLS FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, issued a forceful condemnation of

"bigotry in all its forms" on Friday and called for national reconciliation as he

promised to work toward making the government with greater minority

participation.

[5] Tillerson invoked the 1865 second inaugural address by Abraham Lincoln, the

president who freed the slaves and presided over the Civil War against

rebellious pro-slavery Confederate Southern States.

As the war drew to a close, Lincoln asked the nation to bind up its wounds

from the conflict, Tillerson noted.

[10] "We, too, today should seek to bind up the wounds," Tillerson said. "We must

pursue reconciliation, understanding and respect regardless of skin color,

ethnicity or religious or political views."

He added: "Racism is evil; it is antithetical to America's values. It's antithetical

to the American idea."

[15] Tillerson said one of America's defining characteristics "is the promise of the

opportunity for advancement regardless of your skin color, how much money

your parents make or where you came from."

He announced a new State Department policy in which at least one candidate

for any opening for an ambassador post must be a minority, noting that

[20] currently only about 12 percent of U.S. senior foreign service officers are

non-white.

"The State Department must redouble our efforts to increase diversity at the

highest ranks of the department, including at the ambassador level," Tillerson

said.

[25] Statistics published by the State Department show that as of the end of June,

88 percent of senior foreign service officers - the high-ranking diplomats

from which the country's ambassadors are drawn - are white and 4 percent

are black. One-third of senior foreign service officers are women, and 7

percent of the agency's civil service members are Hispanic.

[30] To remedy the lack of diversity, Tillerson said he had told committees that

nominate ambassadorial candidates at least one candidate for each opening

must be a member of a minority group.

The aim of mindfulness is not quieting the mind, or attempting to achieve a state of eternal calm. The goal is simple: we’re aiming to pay attention to the present moment, without judgment. Easier said than done, we know. When we notice judgments arise during our practice, we can make a mental note of them, and let them pass. Return to observing the present moment as it is. That’s the practice. The work is to just keep doing it. Results will accrue.
Disponível em: <https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/>. Acesso em: abr. 2018. Adaptado.

Lava Mae: Creating Showers on Wheels for the Homeless

San Francisco, according to recent city numbers, has 4,300 people living on the streets. Among the many problems the homeless face is little or no access to showers. San Francisco only has about 16 to 20 shower stalls to accommodate them.

But Doniece Sandoval has made it her mission to change that. The 51-year-old former marketing executive started Lava Mae, a sort of showers on wheels, a new project that aims to turn decommissioned city buses into shower stations for the homeless. Each bus will have two shower stations and Sandoval expects that they'll be able to provide 2,000 showers a week.

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

Unexpected effects of nutrition

In the late 1960s, a team of researchers began distributing a nutritional supplement to families with young children in rural Guatemala. They were testing the assumption that providing enough protein in the first few years of life would reduce the incidence of stunted growth.

It did. Children who received added nutrition grew 1 to 2 centimetres taller than those in a control group. But the benefits didn’t stop there. These children went on to score higher on reading and knowledge tests as adolescents, and when researchers returned in the early 2000s, women who had received the supplements in the first three years of life completed more years of schooling and men had higher incomes.

“Had there not been these follow-ups, this study probably would have been largely forgotten,” says Reynaldo Martorell, a specialist in maternal and child nutrition who led the followup studies. Instead, he says, the findings made financial institutions such as the World Bank think of early nutritional interventions as long-term investments in human health. Since the Guatemalan research, studies around the world — in Brazil, Peru, Jamaica, the Philippines, Kenya and Zimbabwe — have all associated poor or stunted growth in young children with lower cognitive test scores and worse school achievement. A picture slowly emerged that being too short early in life is a sign of adverse conditions — such as poor diet and regular episodes of diarrhea — and a predictor for intellectual deficits and mortality.