scienceillustrated.com.au | 23GRO
SKI
NSKY, (^) F
RAZ
IER
, (^) PE
TER
SBU
RGE
R/G
ETT
Y (^) IM
AGE
S (^) &
(^) TH
INK
STO
CK
Viper
The viper is common in Europe
except in the northernmost
regions of Sweden, Norway,
and Finland. Viper bites are also
relatively common, with 1000+
recorded annually in Sweden.
Bites rarely require hospitalisation,
and only 0.2% are lethal.
ANTIVENOM FROM
NANOPARTICLES? see p48
Inland taipan
The world’s most poisonous snake
lives in remote regions of arid
central Australia. One single bite
from the inland taipan delivers
sufficient potent neurotoxin to
kill more than 100 people.
Thankfully, bites are rare.
BIOLOGY In the 1960s, CIA agent
Cleve Backster hooked plants up to a
lie detector as he held a match under
a leaf or cut the leaf off. The plant
reacted like a person under high
stress. Just as interestingly the plant
also reacted when he tortured other
plants in front of it. He concluded
that plants must be able to
communicate with each other.
Scientists today are pretty sure that
plants cannot feel pain in the ordinary
sense of the word, as they have no
central nervous system. But plants
certainly react to light, sound, smells
and touch. And they also communicate
with other plants, one example being
when they liberate warning chemicals
if attacked by herbivores.
Can plants feel pain?
SCALE
How lethal is
Australia’s inland
taipan's venom
compared to a viper's?
50
,^00
0
times^
more^
lethal
SHU
TTE
RST
OCK
SHU
TTE
RST
OCK
SUNDEW – This carnivorous
plant captures small insects,
using an entire leaf to curl up
around the prey.
MIMOSA – When people or
animals touch the leaves,
these collapse after a few
seconds, hanging slack.
SQUIRTING CUCUMBER –
The mature fruit of this plant
disperses seeds by squirting
a seed-filled liquid several
metres through the air.
In the 1960s, interrogation specialist Cleve Backster used
a lie detector to show that plants react to ‘torture’.
Plants can smell,
see, and feel
Plants do not feel pain
in the same way as animals,
but they do react strongly
to their surroundings.
SMELLS Parasitic plants
use smells to find their
preferred host plants.
SOUNDS Plants grow either
towards or away from sources of
sound, depending on the frequency.
LIGHT Plant shoots grow in
the direction of light, while
their roots do the opposite.
T.^ F
RAZ
IER
M.
/GE
TTY
IM
AGE
S
SUNDEW
MIMOSA
SQUIRTING CUCUMBER