Coursera – What a Plant Knows (Tel Aviv University)

For centuries we have collectively marveled at plant diversity and form—from Charles Darwin’s early fascination with stems and flowers to Seymour Krelborn’s distorted doting in Little Shop of Horrors. This course intends to present to you an intriguing and scientifically valid look at how plants themselves experience the world—from the colors they see to the sensations they feel.

Highlighting the latest research in genetics and more, we will delve into the inner lives of plants and draw parallels with the human senses to reveal that we have much more in common with sunflowers and oak trees than we may realize. We’ll learn how plants know up from down, how they know when a neighbor has been infested by a group of hungry beetles, and whether they appreciate the music you’ve been playing for them or if they’re just deaf to the sounds around them. We’ll explore definitions of memory and consciousness as they relate to plants in asking whether we can say that plants might even be aware of their surroundings. This highly interdisciplinary course meshes historical studies with cutting edge modern research and will be relevant to all humans who seek their place in nature.

By taking this course you’ll be able to:

1. Describe basic plant biology and plant senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste, balance).

2. Define the world of biological research and the scientific method.

3. Question life in general and what defines us as humans.

Syllabus
Week 1 – Introduction:
Why we study plants, plant influence on evolution of the Earth.

Week 2 – What a Plant Sees:
Over view of human vision, plant responses to light, Darwin and phototropism, phytochrome and flowering and modern research.

Week 3 – What a Plant Smells:
Over view of human olfaction, Introduction to the plant cell and membranes, ethylene and fruit ripening, Cuscuta and plants smelling plants, Baldwin’s experiments and plant olfactory communication.

Week 4 – What a Plant Feels:
Over view of human physical sensory mechanisms, Venus fly trap, plant responses to shaking, Do plants hear?

Week 5 – How a Plant Knows Where it is:
Overview human proprioception, Early experiments in gravitropism, root structure and the gravi-sensing mechanism, phototropism and discovery of auxin, gravitropism in space.

Week 6 – What a Plant Remembers:
Overview of the human memory, electrical memory and Venus Fly trap, epigenetics and long-term memory.

Week 7 – The Aware Plant:
Theoretical discussion on the definition of memory and consciousness and a quick examination of “intelligence”.