About this episode
The episode explores whether plants and mushrooms can exhibit different personalities despite identical growing conditions.
CrowdScience listener George is showing Alex Lathbridge around a small, dark, and extremely hot shed, just outside the city of Accra in Ghana. Inside are row after row of shelves, stacked high with bulging grow-bags. And out of some of them, gorgeous cascades of oyster mushrooms are bursting into bloom. We’re on George’s mushroom farm, and he’s noticed something interesting. Even though the conditions in his grow-shed are tightly controlled – they have exactly the same food, water, and light as each other – nevertheless, they respond differently. Some are more vigorous than others, some bloom quicker, others last longer, and some are more tolerant when the conditions change. And this got George wondering. Could ‘brainless’ lifeforms like mushrooms, and plants, have different ‘personalities’? Do they experience the world differently, and live their lives differently from each other? Alex Lathbridge is on the case. He visits the PGRRI, the Plant Genetic Resources Research Centre, for a quick lesson on genetic variation in the plant world. Plants are all different at the genetic level, and it’s those differences which can result in a tastier fruit, or a hardier crop. But would we…
People in this episode
Host: Alex Lathbridge
Guest: George
Topics covered
- plant intelligence
- mushroom farming
- genetic variation
- personality in plants
- agriculture
- science
Keywords
- plants
- mushrooms
- personalities
- genetic variation
- intelligence
- agriculture
- science
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: PGRRI, University of Murcia
Places: Ghana, Accra
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