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Plants defend themselves while being eaten

Published

10 years ago

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New York: Vegetarians please note! Next time when you chew upon your favourite lettuce, be a little more considerate.

According to researchers from the University of Missouri (MU), plants can identify the sound of themselves being eaten and react to the threat.

The team found that plants responded to the sounds that caterpillars make when eating and responded with more defences.

They release more mustard oils which are unappealing to caterpillars and thus ward them off, Daily Mail reported citing the study.

But plants did not defend against the wind despite it having a similar acoustic sound.

In the study, caterpillars were placed on Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard.

Using a laser, researchers were able to measure the movement of the leaf in response to the chewing caterpillar.

“What is remarkable is that the plants exposed to different vibrations, including those made by a gentle wind or different insect sounds that share some acoustic features with caterpillar feeding vibrations did not increase their chemical defences,” explained lead researcher Rex Cocroft from the University of Missouri.

Caterpillars react to this chemical defence by crawling away, “so using vibrations to enhance plant defences could be useful to agriculture, added co-author Heidi Appel, senior research scientist at MU.

The team will further research how vibrations are sensed by plants, what features of the vibrational signal are important and how the mechanical vibrations interact with other forms of plant information to generate protective responses to pests.

The study appeared in the journal Oecologia.

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Apple is giving a huge discount on its gadgets: Details inside

Published

3 years ago

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May 5, 2022

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If you want to buy an iPhone and were waiting for a nice offer, then we have a piece of good news for you! Amazon Summer Sale May 2022 has begun and they are offering major discounts on various smartphones, laptops, and smart TVs, among others.

The sale is live now on the e-commerce platform with no-cost EMI options and exchange discounts on various products. In addition to this, Amazon has also partnered with several banks including ICICI, Kotak Bank, and RBL so that customers get instant discounts of up to 10% using their cards and EMI transactions.

Customers can easily enjoy this summer sale and get massive discounts on iPhones. They can also compare prices on Flipkart Big Saving Days Sale 2022 before making a purchase.

 

Amazon Summer Sale May 2022: Discount offer on iPhone 13 

Apple’s coveted phone model iPhone 13 in the 128 GB storage model will be available during the Amazon Summer Sale May 2022 for Rs 64,900. The MRP of the phone is Rs 79,900. This means that the customers will be able to enjoy a discount of up to Rs 15,000 on the purchase of the iPhone 13.

If you have an old iPhone in working condition then you will also be eligible to receive another additional discount worth up to Rs 17,000 on the iPhone 13.

Buy at Rs. 64,900 (MRP – Rs. 79,900)

Features of Apple iPhone 13 

The iPhone is powered by an A15 Bionic processor with 6 core CPU. Apart from this, it has 16 core neural engines. With the iPhone 13, up to 512 GB of storage will be available. The iPhone 13 has a 6.1-inch Retina XDR display with 1000 nits brightness.

The iPhone 13 has a 12-megapixel dual rear camera setup. This time a new wide-angle camera has been given, whose aperture is f/1.6. With this, there is support for sensor optical stabilisation. Night mode has been made better than before. The second lens is also 12 megapixels ultra-wide and has an aperture of f/2.4.

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