this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
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[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation

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I've always loved flashlights. Yes FLASHLIGHTS with an A!!! Anyway, apparently not many people share my rather niche interest.

So I ask you, fellow Lemmites, what are your hobbies and weird obsessions that you can ramble on about for hours?

Please feel free to ramble on about your passions here. Maybe you'll find some likeminded individuals!

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Right now it’s Boquila trifoliolata, a plant involved in a recent scientific publication that gets some attention for making a very bold claim. Can plants ‘see’?

This study below describes an experiment that seems to suggest they can. Who knows what the real answer will be, but this is science at it’s purest. You can scoff at the author’s conclusions but you cannot ignore their baffling observations.

open access link to article

[–] cashews_best_nut 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I expected something like "yukka" or "rubber plant" not "alien plant with eyes".

Thank you for the article though!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

After going through the paper, it's not just "alien plant with eyes", but rather "alien mimic plant with eyes"! This plant "sees" other plants around (above?) itself and changes the shape of its own leaves to match those of the other plant.

I wonder if the effect can be chained, and if so, how long the chain could be? I'm imagining an alien mimic plant with eyes mimicking an alien mimic plant with eyes mimicking an alien mimic plant with eyes mimicking the first alien mimic plant with eyes.