The word “intelligence”, when applied to any non-human animal or plant, is imprecise and sort of meaningless: research done to determine “intelligence” mostly just aims to learn how similar the inner workings of another organism is to a human thought process. But these studies do give us insight into how other organisms think and behave, whatever “think” might mean.

The researchers were seeking to answer an unusual question: does a plant know when it’s being eaten? To do that, the researchers had to first make a precise version of the vibrations (振动) that a caterpillar (毛虫) makes as it cats leaves. The theory is that it’s these vibrations that the plant can somehow feel or hear. In addition, the researchers also came up with other vibrations the plant might experience, like wind noise.

This particular study was on the thale cress. It actually produces some mustard oils (芥子油), which are mildly poisonous when eaten, and sends them through the leaves to stop caterpillars. And the study showed that when the plants felt or heard the vibrations made by caterpillars, they sent out extra mustard oils into the leaves. When they felt or heard other vibrations? Nothing. It’s a far more dynamic defense than scientists had realized: the plant is more aware of its surroundings and able to respond than expected.

“When I look up at the sky, it looks a bit more amiable because it’s like, maybe somebody is waving,” said Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, US, and the study’s lead writer.

If a planet circling around one of those 1, 715 stars is home to advanced life, they could easily see that there is life here because of the oxygen on Earth. If that didn’t give it away, then the radio waves we have sent out into space would also be an indicator. In fact, human-made radio waves have already traveled through 75 of the closest stars on Kaltenegger’s list.

Nesmith rarely rejoined the others for reunion tours, leading many to believe he disliked the band and the show, something he steadfastly denied. For the Monkees’ 30th anniversary he persuaded the others to reunite to record a new album, “Justus,” for which all four composed the songs and played the instruments. He also rejoined the others for a brief tour and wrote and directed their 1997 TV reunion film, “Hey, Hey, It’s the Monkees.”