Back in 1875, a famous scientist named Charles Darwin said that the Venus flytrap is “one of the most wonderful plants in the world.” And he was right! Even though plants don’t have nerves or muscles like animals do, the Venus flytrap can snap shut super quickly. Darwin was puzzled by how this plant could move, but now we know that it works in a way that’s kind of like how our brain cells talk to each other.
In our brains, cells called neurons send messages using something called an action potential. This is like a wave of electricity that travels along the neuron. When a neuron gets a strong signal, it opens up tiny pores that change its electrical charge. This charge moves down the neuron and tells the next neuron what to do. This is how our brains send messages to our muscles, telling them to move.
Now, let’s talk about the Venus flytrap. This plant has tiny hairs inside its trap. When an insect touches two or more of these hairs within 20 seconds, it sends an electrical signal, much like an action potential in our neurons. This signal tells the trap to close. But instead of using muscles, the flytrap uses water pressure to snap shut. Water moves inside the leaf, changing the pressure and making the trap close quickly.
Once the trap closes, it doesn’t shut completely at first. It uses tiny structures called cilia, which look like little bars, to keep the insect inside. If the plant decides it’s caught a tasty bug, it releases digestive juices to break down the insect and get nutrients from it. Pretty cool, right?
Even though the Venus flytrap doesn’t have a brain, it has some similar features. It has sensory receptors and ion channels that help control the flow of electricity, just like our neurons. This allows the flytrap to respond to its environment in a way that’s a bit like how we react to things like heat or pain.
One of the coolest things about Venus flytraps is that scientists can measure their action potentials, just like they do with our muscle cells. It’s amazing to think that a plant can have such a complex way of catching its prey!
There are many other fascinating carnivorous plants out there, each with its own unique way of trapping insects. If you’re curious to learn more about these amazing plants, you can check out more information at Gross Science. There’s a whole world of incredible plant action waiting to be discovered!
Use craft materials to build a model of a neuron and a Venus flytrap. Highlight the parts that are involved in sending electrical signals, like the axon in neurons and the trigger hairs in the flytrap. Present your model to the class, explaining how each part functions in signal transmission.
Work in groups to simulate how action potentials work using a simple chain reaction. Use dominoes or a line of students passing a signal (like a hand squeeze) to represent the wave of electricity moving through neurons or the flytrap’s trigger mechanism. Discuss how this relates to the way signals travel in both systems.
Take an interactive quiz that tests your knowledge of how the Venus flytrap and human brain communicate. The quiz will include questions about action potentials, sensory receptors, and the differences between plant and animal signal transmission.
Choose a carnivorous plant other than the Venus flytrap and research how it captures its prey. Create a presentation or poster that explains its unique mechanisms and compare it to the Venus flytrap’s method. Share your findings with the class.
Conduct a simple experiment to understand how water pressure can cause movement. Use a plastic bottle with a hole and a balloon to demonstrate how changing water pressure can inflate or deflate the balloon, similar to how the Venus flytrap uses water pressure to close its trap.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Back in 1875, Charles Darwin wrote that the Venus flytrap “is one of the most wonderful plants in the world.” And, I’d have to agree! Plants have no nerves or muscles, yet this plant shuts its traps with incredible speed. Darwin was mystified by the Venus flytrap – he didn’t understand how it moves. But now we know that it’s surprisingly similar to how brain cells communicate with each other.
An action potential is how a brain cell, or neuron, transmits information from one end to the other. If a strong chemical signal is received at one end, it causes the neuron to open up pores that change its charge. This change in charge flows down the length of the neuron until it reaches the end, causing it to release chemical information to the next neurons in the system. An action potential at the junction of motor neurons and muscle fibers causes the muscles to contract. Neurons send messages electrochemically, which can lead to movement.
And this is where we enter flytrap territory. So, Anna from Gross Science, we bought some carnivorous plants, including two Venus flytraps, to take a closer look. I’m very excited! Me too! The Venus flytrap has tiny trigger hairs, and when an insect touches two or more trigger hairs within 20 seconds, sensory cells at the base of the hair generate an electrical signal that acts as an action potential, activating the motor cells. And the leaf closes. This process looks just like a nerve impulse. However, it doesn’t result in muscle movement like we have – the science behind the leaf closing is pretty fascinating.
Here’s Anna again, with more. So what happens is that when the hairs get triggered, they send a little electrical signal to the midrib of the leaf, causing pores to open in the leaf, which allows water to move from one part of the leaf to another. It’s that change in water pressure that makes the leaf snap shut. Then the leaf only partially closes, but it traps the insect using cilia, which are jail-bar-like structures on top. Once it determines that what it’s caught is actually an insect, it releases digestive fluids and starts breaking down the bug. Pretty interesting!
Now, of course, our nervous system is really complex, and without brain cells, the flytrap’s system is pretty basic. While flytraps don’t have brain cells, they have sensory receptors, ion channels that control the flow of electrically charged chemicals, and, of course, action potentials. Venus flytraps can process information, responding to their environment in a way that’s somewhat similar to basic neural responses we have. Imagine you feel something painful, hot, or cold, and you flinch away from it – that’s a natural response we have. The flytraps respond to threats in their own environments in similar ways.
The coolest thing about them is that you can measure the action potential of a Venus flytrap, just like you can measure the action potential in muscle cells. That is so cool! Yeah, I think the flytrap is my favorite plant. I think my favorite plant is actually the bladderwort, which is a different type of carnivorous plant. It’s amazing how many different types of carnivorous plants there are in the world, each with their own ingenious way of trapping prey. I had never heard of that plant!
If you want to find out more about that and some other really cool ones, follow us over to Gross Science. I’ll put an annotation here that you can click on. You can catch us and some really awesome plant action over there. Thanks!
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This version maintains the original content while ensuring clarity and appropriateness.
Venus Flytrap – A carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey, mostly insects and arachnids. – The Venus Flytrap closes its leaves quickly to trap insects for nutrients.
Neurons – Cells in the nervous system that transmit information through electrical and chemical signals. – Neurons communicate with each other to send messages from the brain to the rest of the body.
Action Potential – A rapid rise and subsequent fall in voltage or membrane potential across a cellular membrane with a characteristic pattern. – When a neuron fires, it generates an action potential that travels along its axon.
Electricity – A form of energy resulting from the existence of charged particles such as electrons or protons. – The electric eel uses electricity to stun its prey in the water.
Insect – A small arthropod animal that has six legs and generally one or two pairs of wings. – The butterfly is an insect that undergoes metamorphosis from a caterpillar.
Sensory Receptors – Specialized cells or structures that detect changes in the environment and send signals to the nervous system. – Sensory receptors in our skin help us feel temperature and pressure.
Water Pressure – The force exerted by water on any surface in contact with it. – Fish have adapted to survive under high water pressure in deep ocean environments.
Nutrients – Substances that provide nourishment essential for growth and the maintenance of life. – Plants absorb nutrients from the soil to help them grow and produce food.
Cilia – Microscopic hair-like structures on the surface of some cells that help with movement and sensing the environment. – The cilia in our respiratory tract help move mucus and trapped particles out of the lungs.
Muscles – Tissues in the body that have the ability to contract and produce movement or maintain the position of parts of the body. – Muscles work in pairs to move bones and allow us to perform physical activities.
