The Intelligent Plant. That is the title of a recent article in The New Yorker, and new research is showing that plants have surprising abilities to sense and react to the world.

But can a plant be intelligent? Some plant scientists insist they are since they can sense, learn, remember and even react in ways that would be familiar to humans.

Michael Pollan, author of “The Botany of Desire,” says for the longest time, people who have long talked to their plants or played music for them were being considered “mad.”

The new research, he says, is in a field called plant neurobiology(神经生物学), which is not a proper name, because even scientists in the field don’t argue that plants have neurons(神经) or brains.

“They have analogous structures as humans,” Pollan explains. “Plants have all the same senses as humans. They have ways of taking all the sensory data they gather in their everyday lives, integrate it and then behave in an appropriate way in response.” In addition to hearing, taste, for example, they can sense gravity, the presence of water, or even feel that an obstacle(障碍物) is in the way of its roots, before coming into contact with it. Plant roots will change direction, he says, to avoid obstacles.

So what about pain? Do plants feel? Pollan says they do respond to anesthetics (麻醉剂). “You can put a plant out with a human anesthetic. And not only that, plants produce their own compounds that are anesthetic to us.” But scientists are unwilling to go as far as to say they are responding to pain.

How plants sense and react is still somewhat unknown. They don’t have nerve cells like humans, but they do have a system for sending electrical signals and even produce neurotransmitters (神经递质) and other chemicals the human brain uses to send signals.

When put to tests, bees have long proved that they’ve got a lot more to offer than pollinating (授粉), making honey and being loyal to a queen. The hard-working insects can change their behavior when things seem difficult, and now some scientists find there is proof that they also like to play.

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London performed an experiment, in which they set up a container that allowed bees to travel from their nest to a feeding area. But along the way, the bees could choose to pass through a separate section with some small wooden balls. Over 18 days, the scientists watched as the bees “went out of their way to roll wooden balls repeatedly, despite no apparent incentive (刺激) to do so.”

Earlier studies have shown that the black and yellow bugs are willing to learn new tricks in exchange for food or other rewards. In this case, to get rid of external factors, scientists made sure the bees had adapted to their new home and that their environment was stress-free.

The finding suggests that like humans, insects also interact with objects as a form of play. Also similar to people, younger bees seem to be more playful than adult bees. “This research provides a strong indication that insect minds are far more complicated than we imagine. There are lots of animals who play just for the purpose of enjoyment, but most examples come from young mammals and birds,” said Lars Chittka, a professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, who led the study.

The study’s first author. Samadi Galpay, who is a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London, states that it is more evident that bees may be capable of experiencing feelings. “They may actually experience some kind of positive emotional states, even if basic, like other larger animals do. This finding has effects on our understanding of the sense and welfare of insects, which, consequently, encourages us to respect and protect wildlife on Earth ever more,” she says.

“Angela, do you think the United States will elect a female president in your lifetime?” Years ago, this was the last question of the last interview for a scholarship that I didn’t win. I shook my head “no”. As the interview ended, I sensed that I’d given an answer the committee found disappointing. “Yes, of course there will be a female president in my lifetime, and I hope I have your vote.” Maybe they wanted me to say this assertively.

Where does the bravery to set ambitious goals and strive for them come from?

In a previous study, an experimenter did a series of “car impact experiments”. The experimenter placed a toy car in the middle of the platform and placed obstacles on each side of the car. If the car collided (撞击) with the obstacle on the left, the car would light up. If it collided with the obstacle on the right, there would be no response.

The experimenter invited children to observe him playing two sides of “collision games”. After that, the children were asked to play this game. It was found that all children specifically hit the left obstacle because it would make the car give out light. Through this experiment, we can understand that children will not imitate (模仿) all of your actions, but only your “successful” actions. So we need to be sure they have a good example.

In a more recent study, it is found that the closer the person was to the child, the more willing the child was to imitate. Likewise, college students who are assigned to teaching assistants of similar race or ethnicity were more likely to attend office hours and discussion sections. This match also led to improving student performance in sequenced courses.

Don’t assume that children can he anything they want when they grow up. So go out of your way to expose the young people to inspiring role models they can relate to, whether it’s an Olympic athlete or a local entrepreneur. And now that we have our first female vice president, can the first female president be far behind?