David Attenborough: 'Plants can hear!'

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Sir David Attenborough says the latest scientific research has shown the first clear evidence that plants can hear.

The 87-year-old naturalist reckons that Prince Charles has been right all along - plants really are listening!

"It's still hot science and not fully understood, but a scientist in Bristol is showing that when a rootlet comes down it actually makes a tiny, tiny, tiny noise, far fainter than our ears can detect," he explains in the new issue of TV Times, out today.

"So the root makes a noise as it grows down and if another root is growing nearby, you can demonstrate that, as a consequence, it will actually grow away. It's extraordinary."

The broadcaster will explore the hearing of plants further in David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities, to be shown on Eden next year.

 

David Hollingsworth
David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!