New research has revealed something amazing: it appears that plants can communicate after all.

It has been known for some time that plants use chemicals to communicate with each other. This happens when a plant, say a bean plant, gets attacked by insects. The plant releases tiny amounts of chemicals from the leaves that are being eaten. This is like a warning, or a call for help: “I’m being attacked!” When another bean plant detects the chemicals from its injured neighbour, it starts to release its own, different chemicals. Some of these chemicals drive insects away. Others attract insects—the wasps (黄蜂)! The wasps kill the insects that are eating the bean plants. Scientists hope tolearn more about this plant warning system, so that we can use it to grow crops without pesticides.

More surprisingly, plants also use sound to communicate. People can’t hear these sounds, but plants are making them. Some plants make noises with their roots. Con and chilli plants do this. They also “listen” to the noises from other plants. A chilli plant can tell if a neighbouring plant is helpful, or unfriendly. Some trees make clicking noises when there is not enough water, indicating drought is arriving.

Most surprisingly of all, plants have an amazing system of communication that can link nearly every plant in a forest. Scientists call this system the “wood wide web”. It is in some ways similar to the Internet we use. While the Intenet is a worldwide network of computers linked by cables and satellites, the wood wide web is linked underground by fungi (真菌).This fungal network links the roots of different plants to each other. Using the wood wide web, plants can share information and even food with each other. For example,some pine trees can send food to smaller pine trees to help them grow. But just like our own Internet, the wood wide web has its own version of “cyber crime”. Plants can steal food from each other, or spread poisons to attack other plants. Perhaps one day scientists will learn how to create a “firewall” to help prevent these attacks within the wood wide web.

Scientists are learning more every day about the secret ways in which plants talk to each other. Who knows? Maybe one day we will know enough about plant communication to be able to “talk” with them ourselves.

Countries around the globe are spending billions of dollars and lots of time on various space missions, whether to Mars or other planets much further away. Some people argue that we should stop wasting time and money exploring space. Instead, we should feed the poor and find immediate solutions to other problems, such as pollution and fatal diseases. However, others feel this is a shallow view which fails to realize how exploring space helps us.

Firstly, exploring space has already made a difference in the fight against world hunger. It has directly resulted in the many satellites that now orbit Earth. A number of the satellites record data on land and weather patterns. Then the data is transmitted to scientists on Earth. After careful analysis, the scientists can provide useful recommendations and advice for farmers. As a result, space-based science has helped farming in its efforts to grow enough food to feed Earth’s increasing population.

Secondly, space exploration has already promoted technological improvements that benefit us all. High-end products around the world are made to a higher standard now because of advanced technology which was first created to meet the requirements for space exploration. For example, space technologies have helped the research and development of different types of new material. They have also helped companies make better heart monitors and other machines that doctors regularly use. Today, space technologies are widely used in all kinds of industries, and everyday products, such as memory foam pillows and smartphone cameras, are changing our lives.

Finally, sending astronauts into space has helped people to think about the world’s problems and even to find ways to solve them. Seeing pictures of our planet as an island in a black sea made people realize that our planet’s resources are limited. In order to provide for such a rapidly increasing population, scientists are trying to find other planets that could one day be our new home. The greatest attention at present is on Mars because it is closer to Earth. In the future humans may live on both planets.

In closing, exploring space provides the world with many different benefits. Therefore, it should continue so as to provide new and better solutions to people’s short-term and long-term problems.