Bøker av Stefano Mancuso

Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? In this book, a leading scientist argues that plants process information, sleep, remember, and signal to one another-showing that, far from passive machines, plants are intelligent and aware.

"A renowned plant expert explains how we can make urgent, positive changes to our cities that protect against and reduce global warming. The conquest of new lands has been the greatest occupation of our species: for hundreds of thousands of years, humans have searched for new territories to inhabit, finding in the city the best place to live in the last hundred years. Looking at the parabola of our geographical expansion, it sounds like humans have gone from being a generalist species, capable of colonizing any environment, to very quickly becoming a specialized species, capable of thriving only within a particular habitat. The city seems to have become the only place where we can expect to thrive and reproduce, because it is the only place where our specialization gives us the best chance of survival, and quality of life. However, "species specialization" is only effective in a stable environment: in changing environmental conditions, it becomes dangerous. And if the resources the city needs to thrive are not unlimited, global warming can permanently change the environment of our cities-an event that would be fatal. But it is the city itself, as it is today, that is the main driver of environmental destruction. Mankind is confronted with a paradox: we must rethink our cities and make them a lasting ecological niche. In this clear, accessible, and fascinating work, Stefano Mancuso proposes a green solution: how would our cities be transformed if their framework was modeled on plants?"--

With fun, fascinating vignettes, a renowned neurobiologist illuminates the interconnectedness of plant life and how we can learn from it to better plan our communities.We animals account for a paltry 0.3% of the planet’s biomass while plants add up to 85%. And when, with just a little training, we are able to look at the world without seeing it solely as humanity’s playground, we cannot help but notice the ubiquity of plants. They are everywhere, and their stories are inevitably bound up with ours. As every tree in a forest is linked to all the others by an underground network of roots, uniting them to form a super organism, so plants constitute the nervous system, the plan that is the “greenprint” of our world. To ignore the existence of this plan is one of the most serious threats to the survival of our species.In this latest book, the brilliant Stefano Mancuso is back to illuminate the greenprint of our world. He does it through unforgettable stories starring plants that combine an inimitable narrative style with remarkable scientific rigor, from the story of the red spruce that gave Stradivarius the wood for his fourteen violins, to the Kauri tree stump, kept alive for decades by the interconnected root system of nearby trees. From the mystery of the slipperiness of the banana skin to the plant that solved the “crime of the century,” the Lindbergh kidnapping, by way of wooden ladder rungs.

This playful manifesto - presented for the plant nation by a leading neurobiologist - is an international bestseller.

Er planter bedre problemløsere enn mennesker? Stefano Mancuso mener det, og i Planterevolusjonen gir han en overbevisende vitenskapelig begrunnelse.Planter utgjør 80 prosent av alt levende på jorden, og likevel er det så lett å glemme at disse små, unnselige organismene ikke bare er ansvarlig for livsviktig oksygen, men også for mye vi tar for gitt i vårt moderne liv: medisin, mat og fossilt brennstoff.Stefano Mancuso, en av verdens ledende forskere på plantenes nevrobiologi, viser i denne boken plantenes overraskende evne til innovasjon, til å huske og å lære, og dermed vise oss kreative løsninger på de mest presserende teknologiske og økologiske problemer vi står overfor i dag. Til tross for at planter verken har hjerne eller et sentralnervesystem, «leser» de i enda større grad enn dyr sine omgivelser. De utforsker effektivt og reagerer raskt på mulige ytre farer, og takket være deres desentraliserte kommandolinjer er de i stand til å huske tidligere farlige situasjoner og tilpasse seg nye omstendigheter.

Planter har mye å lære oss, fra nettverkbygging til innovasjon, men bare hvis vi forstår hvordan de lever. Smarte planter er en engasjerende og lidenskapelig beretning om plantekongedømmets indre liv. I Smarte planter presenterer Stefano Mancuso, en ledende forsker og grunnlegger av plantenevrobiologien, en ny innfallsvinkel til planteverdenen. Han kombinerer et historisk perspektiv med planteforskningen, og argumenterer for at på grunn av kulturelle fordommer og menneskelig arroganse fortsetter vi å undervurdere plantene. Men planter bearbeider informasjon, de sover, husker og signaliserer til andre - og viser at langt fra å være passive maskiner, er de intelligente og bevisste. Ved å vise oss plantenes evne til å se, berøre og kommunisere, utfordrer Mancuso vår forståelse av intelligens, og viser at plantelivet er mye mer sofistikert enn vi har forestilt oss.