Planets send out SOS signals when they are under attack. If insects are feeding on them, some plants emit volatile chemicals that attract enemies of the insects. What is surprising, though, is that neighbouring plants not being eaten also send out distress signals to call in these bodyguards.Why so-called secondary signallers do it has been a mystery, but now Yutaka Kobayashi and Norio Yamamura of Kyoto University, Japan, think they have solved it.The answer is family values, or in evolutionary parlance, kin selection. "My hypothesis views secondary signallers as crying for help to save their family," says Kobayashi. The pair used an evolutionary model to show that if the cost of making the SOS signal was low and there was a high likelihood of having relatives growing nearby - both conditions which are often true in real life - then secondary signalling would evolve."Neighbouring undamaged plants emit the secondary signal probably to help the damaged plants," says Kobayashi.

View: Full Article | Source: New Scientist

So much for the vegitairian lifestyle

To think all those vegetarians now going to bite into some vegetables and those poor vegetables are screaming out in terror and for help. MUWHAHAHAHAHA.

I've heard about an instance where plants started producing toxins when some deer ate too many of them.

I hope that doesn't happen with vegetables. O_o