Category: Communication

Talented Greenery

~ mehopper

Note: This post was updated and reposted in honor of Arbor Day 2026!

Check out this minute long 360° video from Genesis Visual Studios.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Genesis Visual Studios (YouTube Channel)

Peaceful, isn’t it?

The bees are busily buzzing about, but the plants aren’t doing much, right?

Well, those plants are up to a LOT more than they look like they are in the video.

Now, you’re probably thinking, yeah, right.

They can move towards light, VERY slowly. Big whoop-d-doo!

Not so fast. There may be more to those Ents in The Lord of the Rings and the Tree of Souls in Avatar than you might expect.

For example, did you know that plants really do “warn” each other of danger?

Here’s a recent video and a couple of related articles about the skill.

Buzz60 (YouTube Channel)
Buzz60 (Facebook)

When Plants Cry Out for Help, Their Neighbors Start Screaming, Too (Kat Eschner, Popular Science)
Insect Herbivory Selects for Volatile-Mediated Plant-Plant Communication (Aino Kalske, Et al., Current Biology)

This is just the latest development in a long line of research about the talents of plants.

For example, in 2013 there was a PBS Nature special dedicated to “plant behavior” entitled What Plants Talk About. Since then, once or twice a year, the topic pops up in the media.


Here’s a video published in 2016 by Richard Karban on TED-Ed that gives a very nice summary of some of the research that’s made the news.

TED-Ed (YouTube Channel)
TED-Ed (Official Website)

You can find out more from Richard Karban’s accompanying TED-Ed Lesson and these sources upon which he says it was based.

How Trees Talk to Each Other (Suzanne Simard, TED Talk, YouTube)
Plant Sensing and Communication (Richard Karban, University of Chicago Press)
How Plants Secretly Talk to Each Other (Kat McGowan, Wired)
The Intelligent Plant: Scientists Debate a New Way of Understanding Flora (Michael Pollan, The New Yorker)

Here’s a recent video and article about the subterranean fungi network that’s now been dubbed the “wood wide web.”

BBC News (YouTube Channel)
BBC News (Official Website)

Wood Wide Web: The Underground Network of Microbes that Connects Trees—Mapped for First Time (Gabriel Popkin, Science Magazine)

So plants can talk, trade and wage war.

That’s nice, but that doesn’t make them all that talented, right?

Well, believe it or not, with a bit of help from their friends, plants can “sing” too, and that shard of news is what actually inspired this very post!

This week I came across a device on Kickstarter from Data Garden that’s called PlantWave, and it’s designed to let you “listen to the music” of plants!

Here’s their two minute promotional video.

PlantWave (YouTube Channel)
PlantWave (Official Website)

Here’s a story with more background.

Let Your Plants Play Music, and Gardens of Sound Will Bloom (Arielle Pardes, Wired)

Of course, now that you know that plants can even “sing,” then it’s only fair to mention that, with a tad more help from their human friends, they can also dance!

Here’s a video of some doing a ballet to Chopin’s Mazurkas, Op. 67.

Mirela Athanas, ClairDeLune25 (YouTube Channel)

If you like that, then you will probably enjoy this extremely relaxing seven minute long video of flowers dancing to, appropriately enough, Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers.

Mirela Athanas, ClairDeLune25 (YouTube Channel)

So there you have it — the next time you’re surrounded by plants, even if you can’t actually hear them talk and sing or watch them move or dance right then and there, perhaps it may not seem “quite” so quiet 🙂

Here are some further resources about the many “talents” of plants.

Do Trees Talk to Each Other? (Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine)
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate (Peter Wohlleben)

Have a great weekend!

Find out more about plants, trees and flowers …

Super Sexy, Singing Mice

~ mehopper

It’s not often that mice sneak into the news, but they do manage it from time to time.

One story that gotten a lot of attention is about how researchers created “super mice” by injecting nanoparticles into their eyes to give them “night vision.” Here are links to the stories about that research.

A Shot of Nanoparticles Lets Mice See in the Dark (MIT Technology Review)
Night-Vision ‘Super-Mice’ Created Using Light-Converting Nanoparticles (Matthew Warren, Nature)
Mammalian Near-Infrared Image Vision through Injectable and Self-Powered Retinal Nanoantennae (Yuqian Ma, et al., Cell)

In case you’re wondering what that would look like, here’s a link to a 360° video about how animals see the world that will give you a sense of it. The video concludes with segments on how rats see the world normally (2:32) and snakes see the world in the infrared (3:30).

How Animals See The World (BuzzFeedVideo, YouTube)

So that’s “interesting.”

Another story was a bit more entertaining. It involved a critter called Alston’s singing mouse. Here’s a link to a one minute introduction and an article about the talented little guys.

Singing Mice Perform Incredible Songs (Animal Wire, YouTube)
Interspecific Dominance Via Vocal Interactions Mediates Altitudinal Zonation in Neotropical Singing Mice (Bret Pasch, Benjamin M. Bolker and Steven M. Phelps, The American Natura)

In fact, these mice, and others, actually sing ultrasonic love songs. Here’s a link to a video and some articles about the talented, frisky little guys.

Male Mice Sing for Females (Slate, YouTube)
Male Mice Song Syntax Depends on Social Contexts and Influences Female Preferences (Jonathan Chabout1, Abhra Sarkar, David B. Dunson and Erich D. Jarvis, Frontiers of Behavioral Neuroscience)
Call of the Wild: The Male Mouse’s Adorable Ultrasonic Mating Songs (Jim Festante, Slate)

Adiposity Signals Predict Vocal Effort in Alston’s Singing Mice (Tracy T. Burkhard, Rebecca R. Westwick and Steven M. Phelps, Proceedings of the Royal Society B)

Awww, such sweet little fellas! 🙂

Finally, the most interesting news was about how studying the singing mouse’s serenades could lead to treatments for humans with communication disorders that are a result of things like stroke or autism. Here’s a link to a video and some articles about that research.

Singing Mouse Study Shows How Brains Achieve Conversation (NYU Langone Health, YouTube)
Singing Mice Could Offer Clues About How Human Brains Manage Conversation (Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica)
These Mice Sing Their Little Hearts Out — and That’s Good for Neuroscience (Jessica Boddy, Popular Science)
This Singing Mouse’s Brain Could Reveal Keys to Snappy Conversation (Kelly Servick, Science Magazine)
Motor Cortical Control of Vocal Interaction in Neotropical Singing Mice (Daniel E. Okobi Jr., et al., Science Magazine)

So that’s neat stuff, but if you’re sad because you thought this was going to be about a mouse actually singing a song, with words, here’s a link to a clip from Sing to help you feel better.

Sing – Singing Mouse Scene (Fandango Family, YouTube)

Find out more awesome things about mice, music and communication in general…

Rock n’ roll, Noise Pollution?

~ mehopper

Is rock and roll noise pollution?

If you are a rock and roll fan, then you probably know that this is a question that AC/DC famously weighed in on in their song Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution (YouTube).

If you are a language or communication expert, rock and roll fan or not, you probably have a bit more nuanced response that might begin with the phrase “it depends” and end up including words like perspective and context.

But what do lady bugs think?

Your answer might be who knows … or cares?

Well, it turns out that somebody tried to find out, and the answer is surprisingly relevant as well as entertaining.

b/60 (YouTube Channel)
b/60 (Facebook Page)

Here are links to the Newsweek story and the journal article mentioned in the video.

Loud Rock Music Like AC/DC Can Hurt Animals, Ecosystem but Willie Nelson Has No Effect, Study Says (Scottie Andrew, Newsweek)
Population‐Level Manipulations of Field Vole Densities Induce Subsequent Changes in Plant Quality But No Impacts on Vole Demography (Lise RuffinoSusan E. HartleyJane L. DeGabrielXavier Lambin, Evolution and Ecology)

Personally, I found it funny that they singled out Willie Nelson as representative of the “not rock and roll” condition. I also couldn’t help but wonder if the ladybugs were just too busy dancing to eat 🙂

Seriously though, the study was actually about an important issue. There really is such a thing as noise pollution, and in some cases, it can be harmful to animals (including us). Here’s a link to an informative video about the impact of noise on humans.

Noise Pollution Is Much Worse For You Than You Think (Tech Insider, YouTube)

It isn’t just us humans and other land animals that have a problem with noise. It’s a problem for animals in the ocean, too.

Scripps News (YouTube Channel)
Scripps News (Official Website)

So, that study about ladybugs opinions on rock and roll had a point, albeit an odd one.

However, I’m still not convinced that rock and roll is noise pollution. I lean towards siding with AC/DC on this one, although I must confess to being more on the same page as Joan Jett.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (YouTube Channel)
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (Official Website)

I even tried to find a 360° video of her or someone else performing I Love Rock N’ Roll.

I had no luck, but I did trip over one of Cheap Trick performing at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Enjoy, or not, as you see fit 😉

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

HBO (YouTube Channel)
HBO Max (Official Website)

Find out more about music and noise …

A Golden Gift

~ mehopper

If you’re looking for a perfect gift for your favorite geek, look no further. Now you can give them a copy of the Voyager Golden Record. Up until 2016, you couldn’t buy a copy, but then Ozma Records ran a brilliant Kickstarter campaign to issue a limited vinyl edition.

Here’s a link to a video about the successful Kickstarter campaign.

NASA’s Golden Records Coming Back To Life, 40 Years Later (NBC Nightly News, YouTube)

The campaign was so successful, they went on to work with Light in the Attic to release a two-disc CD set.

Here’s a link to a one minute video and article about the release.

Soon you can buy NASA’s Earth playlist (Newsy, YouTube)

NASA launched this record into space in 1977. Now, you can own your own copy (Travis M. Andrews, The Washington Post

Finally, here’s a link to a beautfiul 360° video about the Golden Record.

Voyager’s Golden Record Decoded (SciFri, YouTube)

You can find out more about the Voyager Mission on NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Voyager 1 & 2 YouTube Channel

The Voyager spacecraft will continue to send back information, and you can keep track of where they are on this page.

If you want to learn more about the the Solar System, explore this Toy World!

Click the 360° image below to explore it, click the menu in the upper right for controls and click “i” buttons on/off for links to experiences. Use “portals” to visit otherToy Worlds.

You can also explore this Toy World on Kuula.