Learning from Plants Redux

In June, I offered a few ponderings on the notion of learning from plants--especially in reference to computer science and optimal algorithms (e.g., searching).

Wired has an interesting article today on 'plant intelligence':

"SESTO FIORENTINO, Italy -- Professor Stefano Mancuso knows it isn't easy being green: He runs the world's only laboratory dedicated to plant intelligence.

At the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology (LINV), about seven miles outside Florence, Italy, Mancuso and his team of nine work to debunk the myth that plants are low-life. Research at the modern building combines physiology, ecology and molecular biology.

'If you define intelligence as the capacity to solve problems, plants have a lot to teach us," says Mancuso, dressed in harmonizing shades of his favorite color: green. "Not only are they 'smart' in how they grow, adapt and thrive, they do it without neuroses. Intelligence isn't only about having a brain.'"

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