Principal Investigator Richard Fletcher
Plants are very common in our world and and contain a vast amount of information. Although there are open debates about the intelligence of plants, it is undeniable that plants have a great ablity to sense and respond to their environment. The electrophysiology of plants has sparked interest since the late 1800s, but this topic has not been explored recently in the context of modern information technology and electronic devices. We are building novel electronic and optical sensors that measure the physiological activity of living plants, and explore their use as low-cost sensors and thought-provoking educational tools for children and museum exhibits. There is also increasing interest in the study of plant communications.