That plant you have on your office table could be begging you to water it, or insulting the cactus of your partner next door, but the abyss of isolation between species does not allow us to know.
Filling that gap is the goal of PhytlSigns, a device that measures the voltage of the vegetable. To do this, he inserts an electrode into the ground where the plant sits and attaches another to one of its leaves or the stem. When the speaker of the equipment emits sounds, it means that something is happening in the plant. Or so say these inventors, who base their work on the small electrical signals emitted by vegetables.
In addition, the device is paired with an app that shows graphics related to this activity on your smartphone or tablet, so that you have a record of the alleged mood swings that occur in your flowerpot.
The creators of PhytlSigns argue that the differences in these electrical currents correspond to the different responses that plants give to changes in their environment and conditions: stress, growth, tranquility, damage caused by bugs or insecticides … According to them, this could be the way these living things express themselves and communicate with each other, although there is no scientific evidence that they do.
In any case, Nigel Wallbridge, co-founder of Vivent, the company that developed the device, believes this is a first step in finding out if plants feel things and if they are capable of communicating them in some way. That is why he has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter: if many plant lovers contribute their funds to the development of this technology, the day may come when the geranium in the window will send us a good morning back.
