a lot going on there all told by germany tried and tested in. 30 minutes on the d w. w's crime fighters are back with africa's most successful radio drama series continues tomorrow night disowns are available online course you can share and discuss on w africa's facebook page and other social media platforms crime fighters to mean no . to. well come to tomorrow today the science program on d w. they stand silent and still only staring occasionally in the breeze. to harvest their seeds and their fruits or use their leaves and roots woman to smell purposes. plants are not

just useful they make life on earth possible. we enjoy their p.c. . and try to replicate their amazing abilities on this show we journey into the fascinating world of green and growing things coming up. can plants learn a researcher set up an experiment to try and find out. why does the plants next to attract specific problem mates has. a face have to do with it. as we look at what plants research is not doing to prepare for the consequences of climate change welcome to the show. recognising yourself. the mirror painting. only using terms like crow steve for

example. humans are the only species that possess intelligence researches have also observed the traits in other animals. and the signs of the brain apparently plays no role in intelligent behavior. but what about organisms that don't have brains like plants. biologist culture tube is testing whether the pavlovian theory of learning works on plants the same way it does with animals the russian physiologist showed that dogs can quickly be conditioned to associate a ringing bell with food before long the sound alone causes the dog to start salivating that's because it's learned the bell equals food. so does the same hold true for plants. and if so what stimuli do they respond to.

mimosa plants respond to contacts by folding up their leaves. in an experiment placed the mimosa in the dark after a while she then switch the light on which to no response then she started to jab the leaves which immediately closed up. she repeated this process again and again light on and then jam. then she switched the light on but left the leaves alone and they folded up straight away anyhow it would appear the plant had learn to associate light with physical damage and the response remained long after the experiment was stopped. but biologists still can't agree on whether this constitutes the ability to learn.

even meant so much to be humans i find it annoying when someone tells me i can't cool this form of pavlovian learning real learning because there's a set definition and it applies here and. another experiment do plants make decisions for example when competing for access to daylight here a plant called creeping sink foil has been surrounded by strips of colored plastic like leaves these only allow certain kinds of light through this allows the scientists to simulate various scenarios to plant and this pot for example been effectively surrounded by low growing competitors this one on the other hand mimics a scenario where the plant is in shade cast by much taller growth and here the surrounding growth isn't just high but also very close to the plant in each case the scientists monitor how the creeping sink foil responds. when surrounded by low

growth it shoots up when neighboring plants were high it tended to spread horizontally. when hemmed in closely on all sides the creeping sink foil didn't grow much in size at all but it did develop significantly larger leaves in each case it appears to be choosing the most effective option for it situation or is what it's doing little more than an automatic response from ashdown it's astounding that the plants able to react with such different responses do i grow up high or wide or develop knowledge at least at a physiological level these are very different responses has. that make sense that plants would be equipped with light receptors that allow them to respond to light. but the scientists here still aren't exactly sure how the plant processes this information and then decides on a certain course of action all without a brain or a nervous system. in the german city of you know plant

physiologists are working together with electro physiologists to study help plants process and pass on information we know for example that chemical signals are transmitted to other parts of the plant when it's attacked or damaged. signals and plants can also be electrical when a particular stimulus reaches a certain threshold it can trigger what's known as an action potential and bang there's a reaction. for less government deemed mentally it's comparable to what happens in human cells if there are certain types of electrical signals that so far i've only been found in plants are flunking before we move forward and . scientists call these other signals system potentials they've observed how an impulse triggers changes and the voltage at the so membrane in simple terms the positive charge outside the cell and creases but instead of the membrane

reacting with a sudden discharge when stimulated as happens with an action potential the increased voltage is passed on systemically from cell to cell from leaf to leaf. the scientists believe that plant system potentials not only pass on all or nothing impulses but can also convey more detailed information to the organism. but the experts don't yet know exactly how that happens they assume communication inside the plant happens through a combination of chemical and electrical signals but identifying the involved proteins receptors and molecular structures is a lengthy process. so back to the original question do plants have something that could be described as intelligence while the scientists say they certainly display economic rationality they move or grow towards what they need of the i am that as

a flick minister of oil you could say ok the plant is growing more towards where the nutrients are that's teligent to begin if after growing a little bit in that direction a word to say no that's boring i'm going to try the other side in the middle even if it's not smart and that would indicate a form of intelligence here against because that wasn't a rational decision of plants usually do rational things on purpose. but wouldn't that actually be creativity while the discussion over the right definitions continues the scientists are united in one thing their admiration for plants must be a list you can do so much they're masters of chemistry musters a defense i think. the more i work with plants the more fascinated i am by what they can do when. plants function in some ways just like us but other things they do very differently with great success and understanding how they work is proving to be a challenge to our intelligence. the

plant world is far from boring and it's still problems many mysteries researchers in germany have looked attempts on sadistic be a tick in different ecosystems they are of course fabio plants at the poles or in deserts than in the humid warmth of the tropical rain forest it has the highest levels of species density and this city on the planet. to glacier batek like semes crowded environments it grows that over 4000 beaches in the alps a record for plants that here are a few more. than. all plants seek out lives. with more determination on a species of bamboo nature to china and japan. our. store growth has been recorded up to 1.21 meters in a single day. it's can reach heights of 25 meters in 3

weeks. that makes springing up like mushrooms look pretty lame in comparison. the world's tallest tree is the hyperion coastal redwood named after the titan god of heavenly life in greek mythology was. over 115 meters tall it dwarfs even the statue of liberty. the widest tree in the world can be found in mexico and that the nano stud montezuma cypress is thousands of years old. and i know that rather than let down its trunk both the diameter of 14 metres on a circumference of 46 metres and it's a stately 40 metres tall.

order. the tie john barrowman is a plant with the largest flowers in the world each over 3 metres in height. the bloom is renowned not only for its height but also for its overpowering foul odor. dunder of the plants that only come into their own undergrowth. to take the right plants above ground it's nothing commercial. system could total up to 80 kilometers in length. record depth reached by a tree's roots belongs to a wild fig tree in south africa that penetrated down to 120 meters before it finally hit water.

all the figures mentioned in the bible the truth to live the longest said to have died at the age of 969 spring chicken compared to some of earth's plants. a great basin bristlecone pine in california named after the patriarch as long i'd lived him over 4800 years old to salute is the oldest tree in the world. even if it doesn't look at this true since sweden is by some measures older than with years and. the visible trunk of old chico is a fairly young the successor to many others that have sprouted from an ancient roots system d.n.a. analysis has shown that it's over 9 and a half 1000 years old although the latest trunk began to emerge just a few centuries ago.

in the run up to the show this week we asked you on facebook about what plants were important to you and why. sebastian loves the eucalyptus tree because it has medicinal uses and its leaves make it look majestic. fernanda responded that it's too bad it dries out the soil and the oil in its leaves can lead to wildfires. bastin replied that when they are planted the trees are usually well spaced at least where he lives. to be the law on the other hand is a big fan of pomegranates because they're healthy and motivating. thailand is a fan of the jungle great such as hyper broker because it's great for pollinators and because it's vines block out the view of the riffraff next door which. tree

from indonesia thinks every plant is important and can be used in various ways he says plants play an important role as the earth's lungs because they make oxygen and help prevent global warming thanks to all those comments keep them coming. to life giving element oxygen that we mentions as released when plants photosynthesize everywhere from honduras had a question about that. why can't we replicate photosynthesis in the lab harnessing the energy of the sun the plants have developed the process of photosynthesis over millions of years they use light to trigger a cellular reaction converting carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates these carbohydrates service energy carriers and building blocks for the growth of the plant scientists are now trying to follow plants example and you see oh to water and light to make fuel photosynthesis could be the solution to our energy problem.

and it will be a way of. preventing a further rise of the greenhouse gases c o 2 in the atmosphere. that's why researchers have been studying the phenomenon in these albi for example thanks to special microstructure they're very efficient photosynthesize is if the ability could be transferred to more useful plants yields could be increased enormously. experts have been tinkering with photosynthesis in the lab for decades. now new methods are extremely for something else to let a modification are opening new horizons in the search for alternatives to fossil fuel use providing fresh momentum for the development of clean sustainable energy sources. development is read right but only if you. do you have a science question that you've always wanted answered we're happy to help out send

it to us as a video text ovoid smell if we answer it on the show we'll send you a little surprise as a thank you cannot just ask. the finest editor of you dot com slash science or drop us a line at d w underscore side tech on facebook do w. dot science. time to turn now to the lariat how has plants rely on for their reproduction i'm drawn by sense and color pollinators like bees carry the pollen from one flower to the stigma of another. 75 percent of our crops from pest to pumpkins rely on polonaise has to play a role in reproduction in fact of all flowering plants nearly 90 percent make use of the service they provide. the problem now is that insect diversity is under serious threat some crop plants like rice

a wheat get by just fine without pollinators but nearly all nutrient heavy fruit and vegetable species actually depend on them so insects are key to ensuring our own food supply. maybe it's time to find out if plants can learn a few new tricks to attract more and different kinds of pollinators. 'd beans know exactly what they like but what they get depends on the plants they use their nectar to determine which insects can pollinate them and which can't. one day that could change thanks to the work of get to low house at the university of apartheid. she's an expert on flow and sap this is the life blood of the plant and nectar is derived from it. the biologist wants to know exactly how and under what conditions this mixture of sugar and amino acids is distributed throughout the plant it's the flow on sap that determines what nectar tastes like and ultimately

which insects it attracts that plays a key role in plant reproduction. but harvesting the sap isn't easy a biologist needs help and she's getting it from a feds that she finds on the plane and there's none there. now and they are either but then she finds one it's not hard to catch in a fit i'm climbing cave i just need a small container and a brush and then i very gently brush the a fit into the container. so i just wrote the main one by wally. the a fed grows a little agitated and with good reason low house gives it a new leaf to feed on and then places the whole thing under the microscope. the composition of flow and sap changes depending on the location and the leaf to find

out more the biologist wants to capture a live image of what's happening in the leaf cells but she 1st needs to know which of them currently contain sugar crushing the leaves to find out isn't an option. it's beneath you if i were to squeeze the leaf out i'd have 99 percent other cells less than one percent of the cells will be the ones i'm interested in so that's no help. so this is where the if it can help somehow it knows which cells contain the sound and this knowledge is its doom the microscope is equipped with a laser as soon as the a fed has inserted its provide and begin extracting the sap from the cell gertrude low house presses a button and slices the appendage off using a tiny capillary tube the biologist then extracts the south which is the basis for the nectar the plant produces. fish but there are many different

pollinators flies even bats all birds and the question is a fundamental one what ends up visiting the flower. and what enzyme options does a plant have or need to produce one kind of nectar or another to attract a particular pollinator. and a scientist could manipulate the plans flow and sap they could make the flowers attractive for a wider range of pollinators helping the plant adapt to changing environmental conditions brought about by climate change and that could contribute to preserving plant diversity benefiting both humans and insects including generations of. in an era of climate change and ability to adapt can prove the difference between survival and extinction the last 5 years with the hottest ever michette according

to an analysis released by the agency the tracks atmospheric data in the us that means tough times ahead for the agriculture industry around 2 sets of the world's total food out of the cans for just 9 species of plants so it's essential to create the right she's able to cope with the changing climate. how will this week plant root behave under conditions of heat stress what will it look like after 69 or 12 days of the plant gets too little water robert kohler at the unity research center can see what happens early on with a kind of m.r.i. for plants before hired to better have even before the leaves start to droop we already know that this plant is showing your reaction and it's metabolism although it's not yet visible to the naked eye and also we can take action by coming in from off. the high tech equipment it is being used to study crop plants the aim is to

find a way to defy climate change the researchers are focusing on the impact of stress on a group growth. going to these areas with the warmer colors like red exhibit more root growth the areas where the colors are colder more blue there isn't as much room for growth. of. the devices used in radiology make it possible to screen we corn or sugar beets without harming them. 'd the plants can be studied as they grow in minute structural detail all the stored information on a particular plant is assigned a barcode. into the backcourt far beyond this park code isn't an tar database that the database contains extremely important. enable us to draw certain conclusions we know how heavy the seas was for example or how the plant was handled . in france also because that's. the process begins with

a scene this machine measures that precisely weighs it and records the findings the ultimate aim is to identify useful characteristics that will help optimize crop cultivation. and to try to make suggestions so we can say look we've identified a characteristic that helps make the plants drug resistance and for example its roots my grow very fast or very slowly that's a factor that should be taken into account by researchers aiming to adopt plants to climate change. photosynthesis rates are a good indicator of a plant's overall health the imaging system detects fluorescents a method from chlorophyll if the leaf appears red on the screen it means the rate of photosynthesis is poor and the plant is struggling to grow. some honey off by plants close their stuff to limit water of operation from their leaves life. if we observe as an early stage mother plant is closing its tomatoes so we can do

something about it. we could water it for example because he's norman is also a member of the research team he hopes that one day he'll be able to measure photosynthesis from above for the time being the equipment is too heavy for drones to carry but they can still provide useful information for farmers. who worked on the ground measuring the crops with a yardstick it would be very time consuming if you whereas if you use a drone it's done in minutes. the drone also gathers useful data from this trial field where future conditions are being simulated on the field seats that formed in different years at different locations are being sprayed with c o 2 around the clock according to forecasts without action atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases are expected to double by 2050. it's hopes the research will benefit farmers like they claim a schillings climate change is putting them under intense pressure. to do an

assistant to drought resistant variety won't be any good to us if we have an unusually wet year it could prove completely useless what we need are varieties that can adapt to changing climate conditions and 1st and foremost when you look at our trial field we need forecasts that we need to know what we'll be dealing with and 2050 so that plant breeders can start cultivating new varieties that are fit for the future is off the farm organ system. this is plant researcher robert caller's dream job. in the guy's stuff and i love how adaptable and flexible plants are and their response to the environment. regardless of the variety that's up it's not all corn is the same and not always is the same as flashlights and there's a range of options and we're going to be prepared for future challenges if we're

going to be able to cope with the environmental conditions that await us it is often over the din a little here and if it's approved of and. some nature itself can provide solutions to the problems caused by climate change. that's it for now but join us again next week when we set out on a search for extraterrestrial and imagine what they might look like that and more next time on tomorrow to see them.

i'm going to come out. on the road with our superheroes my mission is clear blue crush to get to me cause clearly should explore germany. they dive in and check everything out there's

a lot going on in. germany tried and tested again. coming up on. grappling hooks some tricks. expressing feelings i am not very creative yet but i would love to be considered an artist mandate looking for new perspectives to do it and not be replaced by a previous candidate doing things differently. come to the place where we reflect on society on 20 books come. on d w. i . probably will not succeed in dividing us about not succeed in taking the people off the streets because we're tired of his dictatorship. taking

the stand global news that matters d. w. made for mines. every day counts for us and for our planet. bloodlines this is on its way to bring you more conservation plays how do we make see the screamer how can we protect habitats what to do with all our waste when. we can make a difference by choosing smaller solutions overstaying said in our ways. google ideas limits a series of implosions 1000 to double and online. what's the secret behind this classic. visit to sound. as soon

as you share beethoven it blows your mind. for the story behind the music. for the ages register. the. last play tobin's 9th. for the world starts april 9th on t.w. . this is day w news and they say top stories. corona virus could kill up to 200000 people in the united states and infect millions according to the country's top infectious diseases expert i just cities including new york and new orleans a warning that i will soon run out of ventilators and other medical supplies.

as the corona virus extends its reach across the globe it's starting to spread more rapidly across africa.