Monica Gagliano says that she has received Yoda-like advice from trees and shrubbery. She recalls being rocked like a baby by the spirit of a fern. She has ridden on the back of an invisible bear conjured by an osha root. These interactions have taken place in dreams, visions, songs and telekinetic interactions, sometimes with the help of shamans or ayahuasca. Dr. Gagliano's scientific research ... has broken boundaries in the field of plant behavior and signaling. Currently at the University of Sydney in Australia, she has published a number of studies that support the view that plants are, to some extent, intelligent. Her experiments suggest that they can learn behaviors and remember them. Her work also suggests that plants can hear" running water and even produce clicking noises, perhaps to communicate. She believes, like many scientists and environmentalists do, that in order to save the planet we have to understand ourselves as part of the natural world. It's just that she also believes the plants themselves can speak to this point. "I want people to realize that the world is full of magic, but not as something only some people can do, or something that is outside of this world," she said. "No, it's all here." At the [world science] festival, a young woman asked Dr. Gagliano how her scientific work had changed her understanding of the world. "The main difference is that I used to live in a world of objects, and now I live in a world of subjects," she said. There were murmurs of approval. "And so, I am never alone."
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