Do Plants Talk about Sex?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2018
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sex – for most organisms - is about meeting the right partner. But what if you and your mate are stuck far apart with no ability to travel? This dilemma could put a bit of a downer on your sex life, but is faced by plants everywhere. Presenter Anand Jagatia uncovers the happy fact that not only have plants overcome this problem, they positively excel at it. From hay fever to honey, the sexual strategies of plants affect us daily, and we couldn’t live without their success. In this episode, CrowdScience is answering the questions you sent after a previous episode entitled ‘Can plants talk?’ which explored the way plants and trees use a fungal network to communicate. This time, we explore how plants ‘feel’ bees as they fly past, and more complex communication involving the ‘wood wide web’.
Presenter Anand Jagatia Producer: Rory Galloway
(Image: A yellow dandelion flower attracts a pollinator in the evening sunlight. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and maybe it's when I had a hand in. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Tammy Walker and I produce podcasts for the BBC. |
| 0:08.0 | My role is to give new and diverse creators a voice with the opportunity to build a career. |
| 0:12.0 | That's the thing I love about podcasts. |
| 0:14.4 | You start with just a good idea, but then you have the space to see where it goes. |
| 0:18.4 | And doing that at the BBC means we can really run with the best stories |
| 0:21.9 | while developing the most unique audio talent. |
| 0:24.3 | So if you like what you hear, why not check out the huge range of podcast we've got on BBC |
| 0:29.1 | Sounds? |
| 0:29.6 | Wiping the sweat from your brow is very intense. |
| 0:35.0 | Just bending, yeah. |
| 0:37.0 | Okay, so we should be all right now. |
| 0:39.0 | With this, I'm going to put the audio monitor on. |
| 0:46.0 | Let's switch the... |
| 0:47.0 | Hello, this is Crowd Science |
| 0:52.0 | from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:54.0 | You are listening to the sound of a flower. |
| 0:58.0 | We're trying to record the tiny currents that go up and down the stem of that butter cup. |
| 1:05.0 | I'm Anan Jagatier and the reason why we're tapping into that flowers electric aura |
| 1:11.0 | is because this week we're exploring some of your questions about |
| 1:14.5 | plants including this one. Do plants talk about sex? That's a good question. |
| 1:23.0 | Before that, we need to reestablish the answer to another listener's question. |
... |
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