Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have shown that plants can react to their environment as quickly as animals. It is known that plants respond to movement by adding calcium. Whenever stressed by high winds, plants add calcium to their cell walls. The calcium acts as an internal skeleton, giving strength to the plant. However, until recently it was not known how quickly this increase in calcium occurred. Botanists used a novel method to study the speed at which calcium is added to cells; they added jellyfish genes to the plants. These genes bind to the calcium in the plants and emit a blue glow as the calcium level increases.
What the researchers found absolutely astounded them. When they squirted these genetically modified plants with puffs of air, the plants increased their bluish glow. There was an almost instantaneous reaction to air movement as the plants added calcium to their cells.
When God created plants, He gave them abilities that defy the evolutionary idea that they are simple forms of life.
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, June 17.
