Plants discovered terror

Plants that are not only food sources, but also plants, can now serve as tools to detect explosive materials. This is due to the protein of the plant that has been taught to 'smell' dangerous chemicals to change the color of the leaves as a warning sign.

The US Department of Defense funded $ 7.9 million to a team of scientists at the University of Colorado - led by biology professor June Medford - to conduct research over three years. As a result, they created ' smart ' plants, capable of responding to risks that humans hardly recognized from explosive materials.

Professor Medford said plants do not have the ability to run away or hide from threats, so they develop a sophisticated system to detect and react to the surrounding environment. Researchers have designed a computer program to " teach " plants to improve their ability to identify explosive chemicals as well as pollution from water and air. When the risk is discovered, the receptor proteins from the plant's DNA release the terpenoid, which makes the green leaves become white.

The Daily Mail quoted Professor Medford as saying that after training, plants not only have the ability to " sniff " chemicals similar to dogs but their skills are still high and more effective . This scientific research result has just been published in Plos ONE .