“chào” reader👋! and other new subscribers this week. welcome to the April edition of “tic”. if you’re new, you can catch up on our previous editions on our website right here.

_{(“chào“: hi in Vietnamese)}

in this month’s issue of “tic”, we’re going to talk about how plants communicate, a hero who ran for hope and much more. so make sure to share this with your friends, so just like you, they too can enjoy and catch up with more interesting stuff!

how plants talk 🌱

we generally think of intelligence as a function of the brains of humans, animals, and maybe even the zany problem-solving capacities of octopuses. but plants? they just sit there, don't they? well, not really. science is discovering that plants are more aware, more responsive, and even capable of learning in ways we never even imagined.

the secret green internet

if you think social networking is a human phenomenon, plants have a few words to remind you that they've been doing it for millions of years. forests, for example, are connected via an underground system of fungi collectively known as the Wood Wide Web. trees trade nutrients, send warning signals when danger is coming, and even "favour" their own family members by supplying them with surplus nutrients. it's basically a biological group messaging with a heck of a lot less drama (probably).

but fungi are not the only messengers. plants also send out air signals. when a plant is under attack from insects, it can emit chemicals into the air to warn other plants, producing defensive chemicals. some even call in reinforcements, and they get drawn by predators that will devour their attackers. it's like ringing the alarm and calling in the reinforcements immediately.

more surprisingly, some plants can recognize family members. science has shown that some plants adapt how they grow their roots when placed among siblings, in order not to compete for resources but rather cooperate to absorb nutrients. but among non-relatives? underground turf war to control resources.

more than just "turning toward the sun"

we've all been told plants grow toward light, but plants also have sensory abilities to detect touch, sound, and even gravity. some plants, like the Mimosa pudica, will fold up their leaves when touched, a mechanism to fend off herbivores. others, like the Venus flytrap, count how many times an insect touches its tiny trigger hairs before deciding whether to snap shut to only waste energy unless it's certain there's food inside.

plants will even react to sound. experiments have shown that plants "hear" the vibrations of insects eating nearby leaves and start producing chemicals to protect themselves in response. other experiments have shown that roots can "hear" the sound of running water and grow towards it. so, yes, your houseplants might be listening, maybe talk kindly to them.

others take the movement to extremes. the sundew plant, for example, slowly encases sticky tentacles around unsuspecting insects, while the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) folds upon contact. then there is the telegraph plant, which sways its leaves in a rhythmical motion even in the absence of wind, responding to vibrations and temperature changes in a near-dance-like manner.

learning without a brain

perhaps the most surprising find is that plants learn and remember. perhaps the most well-known experiment, involving Mimosa pudica, showed that when repeatedly dropped (unharmed), the plants learned eventually to no longer close their leaves, realizing there was no real threat. weeks later, they "remembered" the lesson and remained relaxed. that's correct, some plants remember better than we do when trying to remember where we left our keys.

a further experiment with pea plants demonstrated that they could associate signals with rewards, as in Pavlov's famous experiments with dogs. if the light was paired with airflow (suggesting an empty space in which to grow), the plants learned to associate the two and began responding to the airflow itself. they were effectively "trained" to seek out light where there was none(a concept that defies our normal understanding of learning).

what this means for us

the idea that plants are more intelligent than we have thought is not just fascinating, it has real-world implications. unpacking plant communication might help us develop crops that defend themselves naturally, reducing the need for pesticides. examining how plants react to stimuli might unlock new ways to promote their growth in adverse environments. and maybe someday, science will learn just how much our household plants know about us.

so the next time you're watering your plants, remember this: they don't have a brain, but they're definitely paying attention. and if they ever start whispering your secrets to each other, well, don't say I didn't warn you.

Terry Fox. a hero who ran for hope.

Terry Fox is Canada's hero, but a world inspiration. a native Winnipeg boy born in 1958 who grew up in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, like any other youngster: bursting with energy, fierce, and athlete-inclined. not the great sports person by a gift of nature, Terry made up with sheer gutsiness what nature was not too eager to partake. his interest in basketball, in particular, drove him so hard that he was granted a place on his high school team despite his coach's initial impression that he was not worth it.

Terry's life suddenly turned tragic at the age of 18 when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer. if it wasn't amputated above the knee, the only thing that would halt the growth was. it was a devastating blow, yet Terry didn't give up. as he lay in the hospital receiving treatment, he was deeply influenced by the other patients who were also victims of the disease, most notably young children. he wished he could do something. and that's where the idea for the Marathon of Hope came about.

Terry made up his mind that he would run from one side of Canada to the other, not for him, but for all the people who had lost the fight against cancer. he would raise money for research so no one would ever have to suffer what he and countless others went through. it was no easy feat: running the entire distance of a marathon daily on one prosthetic leg. Terry didn’t give up.

after several months of rigorous training, he set out on April 12, 1980, in St. John's, Newfoundland, by immersing his prosthetic leg in the Atlantic Ocean. he set out to run from the Atlantic Ocean across the continent to the Pacific. at first, few noticed. he jogged solo through small towns in the rain and snow and the cold. once news got around, though, his cross-country journey captured the hearts and imaginations of the Canadians. when he reached Ontario, he was a national hero. folks lined the streets and cheered him on; donations flooded in; even Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau heard about him. Terry kept running no matter the rain or the pain and the exhaustion because he was committed to his mission. but on September 1, 1980, after running for 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, he had no choice but to halt just outside Thunder Bay, Ontario. the cancer had reappeared, this time in his lungs. at the emotional address, he said that he must give up running, but he wanted others to keep going.

Terry struggled fiercely, spending months in treatment, yet on June 28, 1981, at the tender age of 22, he passed away. Canada mourned, yet his legacy had just begun.

today, the Terry Fox Foundation carries on his legacy, and the Terry Fox Run, held annually, has generated more than $850 million for cancer research. there are schools, roads, and parks named after him throughout Canada, and the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award is presented to youth who demonstrate exceptional courage and dedication to humanitarian causes.

Terry Fox wasn’t merely a runner he was a testament that one person no matter the circumstances can change the world. his lifetime’s work wasn’t running or about having or beating cancer or even the ability to persevere. it’s about hope. and that’s why today all these years after the fact the world continues to run for Terry.

🔡 wordle fun

here’s an exclusive wordle from us:

dans les coulisses: the accidental genius behind famous inventions

behind each genius who created something great are years of study and… plenty of failures. seriously, the world's greatest discoveries have been made because someone screwed up, got angry, or was just doing something else. let's take a witty look at the real struggles behind history's coolest inventions.

1. the microwave

Percy Spencer was an inventor who dabbled around the developments in radar. Spencer one day was standing by the magnetron (aka fancy machine that makes microwaves) when something strange happened. his chocolate bar in his pocket melted. did he panic? nope. he did what any rational scientist would do. ended up using popcorn and pointing the magnetron at the popcorn. boom! it created the microwave.

moral of the tale: if you're having lunch that cooks itself, well done; you've just created a billion-dollar invention.

2. velcro

Swiss inventor George de Mestral loved hiking but hated the hike home stuck full of burrs(those annoying little plant riders that attach themselves to your clothes and refuse to let go). instead of blaming nature for what the rest of us would have cursed, he subjected one to the microscope and observed that teeny little hooks were grabbing onto loops. that's when the lightbulb went on: why not make one that you can use again?

after years of trying (and being ridiculed by fashion designers), finally Velcro caught on. moral of the tale? nature's most frustrating things have the potential to become billion-dollar ideas.

3. Slinky

a naval engineer in the 1940s, Richard James, was developing springs that would stabilize equipment on ships. he knocked one off the shelf one day and observed as it went into that weird stair-stepping motion. most would have gone, Oh well, that seemed weird, and let that go. not James. he knew that there was potential there.

instead of stabilizing, the coiling coiled into the coiling you know today. and so the Slinky was born, proving once again that the greatest things in life usually arise from totally botching the original plan.

4. the Post-it note

Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive in 1968. he ended up doing the opposite: he developed a weak, reusable adhesive that hardly stuck to anything. he tried for years to get people to see that it was useful, but no one was interested.

another researcher is quoted to have said: "what if we placed this useless glue on paper?" and what resulted from that? the Post-it note which today adorns every office desk worldwide.

moral of the story: if something is completely useless, just put it on a post-it and sell it anyway.

5. chip of wild controversy

a one-time dissatisfied customer at the Saratoga Springs resort in upstate New York constantly complained in 1853 that his French fries were wet and too thick. Chef George Crum grew so angry that he deliberately sliced the potatoes very thinly, fried them very crunchy, and covered them in plenty of salt. he believed the customer would hate them. quite the opposite, the man loved them. they kept producing them at the restaurant, and potato chips came into being just like that. moral of the message? at times, the finest inventions result from sheer spite.

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here’s a historical fun fact that might surprise you 🏺

the first iPhone was released in 2007, which is only roughly 2,000 years after Cleopatra's time! in contrast, the Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 2560 BCE, while Cleopatra ruled Egypt around 30 BCE, more than 2,500 years later.

thank you for reading. wish you a wonderful month!

until next month,

“tic.” team