What do plants have to teach neuroscientists if they don't even have nervous system? Well, perhaps they have something more than complicated interconnection of neurons, that can give us some ideas about the nature of intelligence and whether we need brain for it.
Prof. Mancuso - the head of planet's first International Laboratory for Plant Neurobiology (
LINV) argues, that green matter can be nearly as sophisticated as gray matter is. Plants are intelligent beings, and this is not only about signaling and response systems.
"If you define intelligence as the capacity to solve problems, plants have a lot to teach us. Not only are they 'smart' in how they grow, adapt and thrive, they do it without neuroses. Intelligence isn't only about having a brain." Prof. MancusoI probably would agree on that "not only" remark, because thinking in neuroscientific terms one would come to the conclusion that the plants have so called "basic intelligence", which means merely adapting to the environment and may be one want to call it "learning". What in addition to that humans can do is understanding, reasoning and thinking abstractly (and having neuroses), for what having brain is rather inevitable.
And then, for those interested in space research, LINV is currently working on the first robot inspired by plants ("plantoid"), which will be used for exploring the soil on the Mars. May be plantoid will be the first intelligent being there!
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