According to researchers at the Institute for Applied Physics at the University of Bonn in Germany, plants release gases that are the equivalent of crying out in pain. Using a laser-powered microphone, researchers have picked up sound waves produced by plants releasing gases when cut or injured.

Although not audible to the human ear, the secret voices of plants have revealed that cucumbers scream when they are sick, and flowers whine when their leaves are cut [source: Deutsche Welle]. And it's not just cucumbers that are making their voices heard.

Chewing Sounds Put Plants on High Alert

In a macabre turn of events, there's also evidence that plants can hear themselves being eaten. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that plants understand and respond to chewing sounds made by caterpillars munching on them. As soon as the plants hear the noises, they respond with several defense mechanisms [source: Feinberg].

Plant Consciousness May Be a Real Thing

Research has revealed surprising insights into plant behavior, challenging assumptions about their capabilities. Plants, like the Mimosa pudica, can be anesthetized with substances like ether or lidocaine, causing them to stop responding to stimuli and suppressing their electrical activity.

This has sparked questions about whether this "sleep" state implies awareness or consciousness in plants. A small group of researchers, including Paco Calvo at the University of Murcia, are taking this idea seriously.

Can't eat meat without feels bad. Can't eat plants without feels bad. die

[–] muddi@hexbear.net 10 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Just eat fruits and vegetables then. Plants might feel pain but it makes no sense for their reproductive processes to cause any feeling but pleasure. Plants make fruits so animals will pick and eat them, and disperse their seeds. At least most plants do, or more precisely, the fruits we eat are those meant to be eaten by those which eat them.

[–] ProfessorOwl_PhD@hexbear.net 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Plants might feel pain but it makes no sense for their reproductive processes to cause any feeling but pleasure.

I hate to tell you this, but nature doesn't run on what makes sense. There's nothing about them feeling pain that implies they feel pleasure at having their reproductive organs ripped off.

[–] muddi@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Okay sounded like you loved telling me that though. You know what I meant

In case I need to spell it out, it is that they probably don't feel pain telling them to cease their reproductive processes. Not some abduction that they feel pleasure when I pick their fruits (not organs, more like fertilized eggs)

[–] ProfessorOwl_PhD@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

No, it's a common misconception about nature and evolution that I genuinely dislike having to tell people because of how often it comes up.

And no, I didn't know what you meant. Like I guess your phrasing leaves room for your clarification as an interpretation, but I definitely don't think of a complete lack of feeling when you say "cause any feeling but pleasure".

Lastly, why would they not feel pain from it? There's no particular reason they would feel pain either, but neither situation confers any obvious evolutionary advantage - indeed, it only comes up once they reproduce, so if there is a pain response it's not advantageous or disadvantageous until they've already passed their genes on.
We've just barely started grappling with the idea of that maybe plants feel pain and have some form of consciousness, only having some weird data that we're still trying to make full sense of - you have no basis by which to assert that they're capable of feeling pleasure, never mind the specific things they'd enjoy.

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