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====PARN Project: Human-plant communication - research diary====
Lionel

===Friday 14/10/2011===

  * Check for the result of the plant root experiment. The root has stopped to grow before entering the channel. Thinking about what to do now.
  * Reading an article about plant-microbe interaction\\
° [[http://www.nature.com/msb/journal/v6/n1/pdf/msb201067.pdf| Goffin et al (2010) Understanding the physiology of Lactobacillus plantarum at zero growth]] (open access). In situations of low substrate availability, //Lactobacillus plantarum// bacteria (which often grows on plants) syhthetize plant hormones to 'tell' the plant to produce certain nutrients they need. Furthermore, //L. plantarum// also adapts its own metabolism to make use of those vegetal nutients.\\
  * short research discussion with Nik & Maja

===Tuesday 27/09/2011===

  * Making pictures and a libarynth page about the [[plant_roots_experiment|plant root experiment]].

===Monday 26/09/2011===

  * Finding a technical solution to connect the glass pipes to the plexiglas plate, in a watertight way. The experimental device is ready for a first test. A seed of cress is inserted in the 'input'.

===Thursday 22/09/2011===

  * Buying some material and testing different systems to ensure the watertightness of the fluidics device for the plant root experiment.
  * Browsing through the non-scientific web about 'communication with plants'.

===Monday 19/09/2011===

  * Reading the //book of abstracts// from the 1st symposium on Plant Neurobiology ([[http://www.plantbehavior.org/files/Symposia_BookofAbstracts.pdf|pdf file]] freely downloadable). An nice collection of scientific stories about plant communication.

===Friday & Saturday 16-17/09/2011===

(Symposium on EEG & Art, iMAL)

===Thursday 15/09/2011===

(arrival Kiran)

===Tuesday 13/09/2011===

  * bending of tiny glasspipes with heat, for the plant root experiment

===Friday 09/09/2011===

  * Grooving of the plexiglas plate at timelab, Gent

===Thursday 08/09/2011===

  * buying transparent polymer plates
  * .dxf files for the patterns of the 'microfluidics' channels.

===Wednesday 07/09/2011===

  * Short research meeting with Maja and Nik\\
  * Fist draft for a 'root-on-a-chip' design\\

===Tuesday 06/09/2011===

  * Analyse of the 20 first results a Google search about "communication avec les plantes"\\
° To see what is associated with that concept in the web-based popular culture.\\
° Identifying the main ideas that come repeatedly.\\
  * Update of the page about [[diy_biology|DIY biology]]\\

===Friday 02/09/2011===

(Weekly meeting with FoAM's members)

===Thursday 01/09/2011===

  * Some information about Arduino\\
  * Update of the page about [[plant_neurobiology|plant neurobiology]]\\

===Wednesday 31/08/2011===

Meeting with Meredith L. Patterson\\

===Monday 29/08/2011===

  * Create a libarynth page with links about [[diy_biology|DIY biology]]\\

===Friday 26/08/2011===

  * Order seeds of Mimosa pudica (on www.graines.be)\\
  * Freely downloadable publications about ant-plant mutualism, on the [[http://www.bashanfoundation.org/heil/heilpub.html|webpage of the biologist Martin Heil]]\\
  * Wikipedia search: [[w>Myrmecophily]]


===Thursday 25/08/2011===

  * Rapid research about interactions beween plants and animals/microbes/plants.\\
  * Prospective thoughts about possible (or less possible) experiments.\\

===Tuesday 23/08/2011===

(Platform Kanal summer lab in FoAM's studio)

===Monday 22/08/2011===

  * Visit at the VUB library to identify interesting reference books about plant physiology:\\
° //Biology of Plants, 7th edition// (2005), P. Raven, R. Evert, S. Eichhorn - W. H. Freeman & co Publishers\\
Very general and pedagogic, lot of pictures. Botany, histology, a bit of molecular biology. Reader-friendly, nice to browse randomly (essays, topics, etc.). But: ugly hardcover, and 7th edition seems to be the last one.\\
° //Plant physiology, 4th edition// (2006), L. Taiz & E. Zeiger - Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers\\
More experiment-oriented. A lot about plant development and metabolic pathways. Graphs, molecular structures. 5th edition released in 2010.\\
° //Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants// (2009), B. Buchanan, W. Gruissem, R. Jones - American Society of Plant Physiologists\\
Very good and exhaustive reference book. Very molecular-, protein- and biochemistry-oriented. Big: 1367 pages!\\

===Friday 19/08/2011===

  * Web search about the use of plants action potentials in artistic installations:
° [[http://ivanhenriques.wordpress.com/|Ivan Henrique - 'Jurema Action Plant']]\\
° [[http://www.scenocosme.com/phonofolium.htm|Grégory Lasserre & Anaïs met den Ancxt - 'Phonolium']]\\
  * Visit at iMAL

===Thursday 18/08/2011===

  * Further reading of previously mentioned articles and books\\

===Wednesday 17/08/2011===

(General meeting at FoAM)

===Tuesday 16/08/2011===

  * Futher investigation about 'plant neurobiology'\\
° Struik et al (2008) //Plant neurobiology and green plant intelligence: science, metaphors and nonsense//\\
An intelligent, precise and critical reflection about the subject, written by researchers that are not part of the 'Baluska & Mancuso friend's group'.\\
° Koziolek et al (2003) //Transient knockout of photosynthesis mediated by electrical signals//\\
In this paper, the authors relate an experiment to measure electrical signals and other parameters in //Mimosa pudica//\\

===Friday 12/08/2011===

  * About the measurements of action potentials in plants: [[http://electrochem.cwru.edu/encycl/art-p01-plants.htm|Webpage]] by A.G. Volkov about the electrochemistry of plant life.\\

  * There is a journal for [[http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/loi/mpmi|Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions]]. Beyond a one-year embargo, new articles are in Open Access ([[wp>Delayed open access journal]]).

===Thursday 11/08/2011===

  * New libarynth page about [[plant_neurobiology|plant neurobiology]]

  * New libarynth page with a [[open_access_journals_list|list of some Open Access Journals]]

===Wednesday 10/08/2011===

  * Read the article of Peter W. Barlow (2008)

  * Wikipedia search about: convergent evolution, exaptation, morphogen, metamerism

===Friday 05/08/2011===

  * Search in the scientific literature about "plant neurobiology"\\
° Peter W. Barlow (2008) Reﬂections on ‘plant neurobiology’ [review article]\\
° Eric Davies (2004) New functions for electrical signals in plants [commentary]

  * Short research meeting with Nik & Maja\\

===Thursday 04/08/2011===

  * Libarynth research diary

  * T. McKenna, Archaic Revival (1991, book), p 219-225\\
° Central idea: plants as inspirational model for solving global problems. Phytomimicry in industry, politics, personal life.\\
° According to McKenna, the "lessons" of plants are:\\
- societal/politics: feminization of culture\\
- personal: inwardness, cooperation (symbiosis)\\
- ecology: phytoremediation, biodiversity\\
- industry: recycling, H2-economy, photovoltaic, nanotech\\
° McKenna hopes a change of paradigm. Idea of the "rebirth of the [vegetal] Goddess". Spiritual or symbolic idea of the mother-earth, Gaia, etc.\\
° Suggests that the use of psychedelic plants opens channels of direct communication with this Gaia.\\
° McKenna speaks about "planetary purpose". Intentionality. (link to be made with Naturalism and Intelligent Design)\\

  * Wikipedia search about:\\
New Age Gaian, James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, Noepaganism, Pseudoscience, Falsifiability, Biopunk

  * Some books found in the library:\\
° Nature, technology and the sacred, Bronislaw Szerszynski, 2005. About the idea of the "disenchantment of the world", from a philosphy of science point of view.\\
° Cosmicomics, Italo Calvino, 1965. Short stories. Science-like narratives, universe as a cosmic joke.\\
° Psychedelic reimagined, Thomas Lyttle, ed., 1999. Collection of articles about psychedelic substances and practices.\\

===Wednesday 03/08/2011===

  * Start meeting with Nik & Maja

  * Research starting points:\\
° Reach a broad spectrum going from science < ---- > pseudo-science\\
° Special attention to //stories//. Stories made to justify some logical shortcuts in speudo-scientific demonstrations, stories on the side of classical research, etc.\\
° Think of experiment to test some pseudo-scientific claims (plants grow faster if you speak to them). Those experiments are not meant to be realized.\\
° Make an overview of the research in the field of plant-plant communication. Neurobotany, sensory ecology, chemical communication between plants, etc.\\
° Speculative science: what do we need to build a //translator// to interfer with those signals?\\

  * Literature starting points:\\
° Experiments of George Lawrence (~1950). Onion attached to a telescope, and other strange experiments.\\
° HPI paper on the Lybarinth\\
° Sci-fi writer K. Schröder. Idea of thalience, switched subjectivity. Idea that the value of a model is not only determined by the fact it is true or not, but also by its ability to generate other models and ideas ("heuristicity").\\
° T. McKenna, Archaic Revival, Chapter about plan/plant/planet. Phytomimicry and techno-gaianism.\\
° P. Stamets, Mycelium Running, global considerations about mycelium as nature's internet.\\