Putting Death Metal On Your Plants Playlist: Is That Bs?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Gist – "Putting Death Metal On Your Plants Playlist: Is That Bs?"

Release Date: June 13, 2025 | Host: Mike Pesca | Produced by Peach Fish Productions

---

Introduction

In this episode of The Gist, host Mike Pesca delves into two primary topics: the intriguing question of whether talking to plants actually aids their growth, and a critical analysis of Israel's recent military strikes on Iran. The episode balances light-hearted segments with serious geopolitical discussion, maintaining its signature style of being both surprising and reasonable, as outlined in the podcast's description.

---

Segment 1: Is Talking to Plants Actually Effective?

Timeframe: Approximately 08:00 – 27:14

Guest: Sadie Dingfelder, author and journalist known for her book Do I Know You? A Face Blind Reporter's Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, Imagination and Conifers.

Exploring the Claim

The segment begins with Mike Pesca introducing the provocative question: "Is it bullshit if you talk to plants?" This leads into a discussion with Sadie Dingfelder, who explores the scientific evidence (or lack thereof) surrounding the practice of conversing with plants to enhance their growth.

Review of Scientific Studies

1. MythBusters Experiment (2004)

   • Pesca: "They found that sound did make them grow." [09:30]
   • Sadie: Details the flawed experiment where all plants wilted due to an irrigation failure, making it unclear if sound had any real effect.

2. Denver Museum of Nature and Science (2013)

   • Sadie: "They had two plants, and the study results were inconclusive because the findings were lost or the experiment faced technical issues." [13:03]
   • Highlights the lack of rigorous methodology and sample size.

3. Royal Horticultural Society Study

   • Sadie: "They had 10 tomato plants and found negligible results between male and female voice recordings." [13:21]
   • Points out the minimal sample size and poor study design.

4. Trees.com Survey

   • Sadie: "48% of people admit to talking to their plants, and a quarter of the plant talkers also kiss their plants." [14:27]
   • Notes the absence of methodology details, casting doubt on the survey’s validity.

5. Tel Aviv University Study (2019)

   • Sadie: "Evening primrose flowers respond to the sound of buzzing bees by ramping up their sugar production, making their nectar 20% sweeter." [15:30]
   • Describes a more robust study with hundreds of flowers, controlled sound exposure, and measurable outcomes.
   • Pesca: "I like this study because it's not just magical thinking. They measured how specific sounds affected nectar production." [17:01]

6. Strawberry Study

   • Sadie: "Blasting strawberries with loud broadband sound for varying durations showed that short exposure (2 hours/day) mildly stressed plants but enhanced growth, while longer exposure (5 hours/day) stunted growth." [23:03]
   • Illustrates the nuanced effects of sound intensity and exposure time on plant health.

Key Insights and Conclusions

• Sound vs. Content: Plants respond to sound vibrations rather than the content of speech. The mechanical properties of sound, such as frequency and intensity, can influence plant physiology.

• Scientific Rigor Matters: Many studies and experiments on plant communication suffer from poor design, small sample sizes, and lack of controls, making their conclusions unreliable.

• Practical Implications: While talking to plants may not directly enhance growth through content, sound vibrations from music or talking could have subtle effects, either beneficial or detrimental, depending on the nature of the sound.

• Conclusion:

  • Sadie Dingfelder: "Talking to plants is not bullshit." [25:13]
  • Emphasizes that while the practice isn’t entirely baseless, the underlying mechanisms are more about sound vibrations than the actual conversation.

Notable Quotes:

• Pesca (09:30): "They found that sound did make them grow."
• Sadie Dingfelder (14:27): "48% of people admit to talking to their plants, and a quarter of the plant talkers also kiss their plants."
• Pesca (17:01): "I like this study because it's not just magical thinking. They measured how specific sounds affected nectar production."
• Dingfelder (25:13): "It is not bullshit."

---

Segment 2: Geopolitical Analysis – Israel’s Strikes on Iran

Timeframe: Approximately 27:14 – 37:13

Guest: Ronan Bergman, security and military correspondent for My Shekels and The New York Times.

Context of the Strikes

Mike Pesca provides an overview of Israel's first series of strikes on Iran, highlighting the severity and strategic intent behind the military actions. He underscores the importance of differentiating this event from broader fears of a potential World War III, noting Iran's limited capability to engage in large-scale nuclear warfare.

Details of the Strikes

• Targets Hit: Nuclear sites including Natanz.
• Specific Actions: Targeted assassinations of key Iranian military leaders, including the commander of the Revolutionary Guard and the head of the missile program.
• Precision: Pesca: "This called a precision strike." [32:16]

Expert Insights

Ronan Bergman elaborates on the timing and execution of the strikes:

• Timing and Secrecy: Strikes were executed before Iran could preemptively act, taking advantage of intelligence breakthroughs.
• Coordination with the US: "It seems like there was more coordination, at least what I'm hearing from officials in the Prime Minister's office..." [33:44]
• Trump’s Role: Despite public statements distancing the US from the strikes, behind-the-scenes coordination may have played a role.

Pesca discusses Trump’s public messaging:

• Trump's Tweets: "He warned Iran of more brutal attacks without a nuclear deal." [35:25]
• US Stance: Conflicting statements from US officials created ambiguity about direct involvement or support.

Geopolitical Implications

• Regional Stability: The strikes signify a major escalation but are carefully calibrated to avoid broader conflict.
• US-Iran Relations: Heightened tensions, but with limited immediate risk of open war.
• Warfare Evolution: Introduction of "cheap asymmetrical warfare" through drone strikes, as discussed by Shashank Joshi of The Economist.

Shashank Joshi comments on the shift in warfare tactics:

• Changing Nature of Warfare: "There is a huge problem... these are like big hangars that are extremely protected against aerial attack." [37:13]
• US Preparedness: Critiques US complacency regarding the hardening of air defenses, especially in strategic regions like Taiwan.

Conclusion and Future Outlook

• Operation Rising Lion: Israel has declared an extended military operation, with public and military resources focused on countering Iranian advancements.
• Peace Prospects: The strikes may recalibrate regional dynamics towards a tenuous peace, primarily by hindering Iran’s nuclear aspirations.
• Global Impact: Signals a shift in how military power is projected, emphasizing precision and intelligence over sheer force.

Notable Quotes:

• Pesca (32:16): "They know the enemy better than the enemy knows itself."
• Ronan Bergman (33:44): "It seems like there was more coordination...part of a coordinated deception campaign."
• Pesca (35:25): "Donald Trump tweeted truth that he had given the Iranians 60 days to sign a deal."
• Shashank Joshi (37:13): "The Americans are still astonishingly complacent."

---

Closing Remarks

Mike Pesca wraps up the episode by acknowledging his production team and sponsors, maintaining the podcast’s blend of informative content and engaging dialogue.

---

Final Thoughts

This episode of The Gist showcases the podcast's ability to traverse diverse topics—from the whimsical debate over plant communication to the grave implications of international military actions. Through thorough investigation and expert insights, the episode encourages listeners to question commonly held beliefs and stay informed about global events.

---

For more in-depth discussions and updates, subscribe to The Gist on your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Celsius Advertiser]

5:00Am I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change and head to work. Meetings, workshops. One more Celsius. No slowing down. Working late but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius Live Fit. Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate [e-mail].

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Are.

[Discover Advertiser]

You still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn [e-mail] credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report.

[Mike Pesca]

It'S Friday, June 13, 2025 from Fish Productions, it's the gist. I'm Mike Pesca. Iran struck. Padilla arrested fans mourning the closing of a Muppet themed courtyard at Disney World. They hold a funeral. Okay, some of today's news bigger than others and we will get to Israel's strike on Iran in the spiel. But first, New York Democrats vote in 11 days and it's a close one. It's either going to be the guy who resigned from higher office because of sexual harassment allegations or the guy who who wants to run city led grocery stores and arrest Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits the United Nations. That guy's name and say it right, is the name is Mamdani. M A M D A N I. You should learn how to say it because we got to get it right. Here's what Andrew Cuomo said to get Mr. Mamdani a bit upset. Mr. Mandami has had a staff of five people. You're not going to run a staff of 300,000 employees. Okay, that sounds like more of a Mandani when it's really Mamdani. But here now is another candidate polling lower, but one who Mamdani's votes second or third place votes in this ranked choice system. Mamdani wants and this candidate is Scott Stringer. And Mandani said it right? Right. Mandani.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Almost there. Okay, I'm getting there.

[Mike Pesca]

That was the same way Cuomo said it. This is not the biggest issue in the campaign. I'm not exactly sure what is. Something like affordability or safety. Cuomo's past is certainly a hurdle. Mamdani has a lot of plans to bring down prices. I guess people like Plans. Imagine the city run grocery store, one in every borough. That's a plan. I do have to say a city establishing and running a grocery store that has never actually worked. It has been tried. There is one in Kansas. They took over a failing store but. But other cities have tried it and it turns out that grocery stores are very good at delivering food at cheap prices. What they're not good at is staving off avian flus that sweep the world. And much of Mamdani's plan seems to be inspired by that. I do have to say the polling is tight and we're all to some extent walking on non city owned eggshells on the show today. Israel strikes. We will get to that in the spiel. But first, Sadie Dingfelder is back. She does a segment called Is that bullshit? We will talk about a claim that we've all heard. But you know, is it bullshit if you talk to plants? The plants like it or at least grow more. The important questions Sadie Dingfelder. Up next, it's time to play the music. It's time to light the mics. It's time to eat the Muppets on the Mupper joint. Father's Day gifts. I don't know, maybe there's a sameness to it. Socks, grills, tools, repeat. This year I wanted to do better. So I quinced it up. Quince makes buying a thoughtful gift easy. They have all the pieces. Dads, I'm one wanna wear organic cotton silk polos. I have to say, did I know I wanted that? I didn't. And then it touched my skin and my skin thanked myself. It was a little, you know, self dealing, as they say. But they also have European linen, beach shorts and awesome pants. And quince is priced 50 to 80% less than what you'd find with similar brands. It is the whole cutting out the middleman, but it really works. They work with top artisans. They don't hit you with the crazy markups. They hit you with the delightful fabrics and these factories that are safe and ethical and responsible. And for Father's Day, I gotta say, I got it for me and then I gave it to my dad. The shirts that I'm talking about, the polo shirts, they were amazing. I didn't want to give them up. I had two. One for me, one for dad. I chose the color that I wanted and they're amazing shirts. And I made my dad love me more. I made him. For the dad who deserves better than basic, Quince has you covered. Go to Quince.com the Gist for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com the Gist to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com the Gist hi guys. Is Ed getting you down? Do you not if literally here imagine the crude crescendo of the slide whistle. You know the one. Let's get other things like your confidence back up with Hims. Hims provides you access to treatments that could help you last longer. So you can be ready whenever the mood strikes. If you're feeling stalled out in the bedroom, Hims is the solution. It's changing men's health. By providing you access with affordable sexual health treatments from the comfort of your couch, HIMS provides an access to a range of doctor trusted ed treatments like here are some you may have heard of Viagra Cialis. So this isn't some weird off brand version of Cialis. This is the Cialis, the one with the tubs on tv. And you get it from Hims. You fill out a form. A medical provider determines the right treatment for you. Your medication ships directly, shipping's free. No insurance is needed. That's really important. Hims has been doing this for a long, long time. They're very trusted. This is very important area for men, from what I understand. And Hims is the one who can help. Start your free online Visit today at hims.com/the gist that's H I M S.com the gist for your personalized ED treatment options. Hims.com the gist now here's the part I speak fast. Well, to quote a famous songster, I talk to the trees, but they don't listen. In fact, it was sung by Robert Goulet, but also in the movie of paint your wagon, Clint Eastwood, he was the one who talked to the trees. Does it work? I mean, this was basically from the character's perspective, the pointlessness of talking to trees and talking to stars and admitting your love. But there is some body of evidence that talking to plants and trees has some positive properties whereby just a simple conversation can get those begonias in full bloom. To question this, and this is what we subject to all scientific claims is the question is that bullshit, which is a form of fertilizer which will probably help tree growth more than talking to it. And who we speak to, who we talk to about talking to the trees is Sadie Dingfelder. She is the author and the journalist who comes on to the gist. Her book is Do I know you? A Face Blind Reporter's Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, Imagination and Conifers. Hello, Sadie. Welcome back.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Thank you. So excited to be here.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you do this? Are you a botanist of any renown?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I am not. I've not. I don't really understand how plants work, but I've learned a lot from just.

[Mike Pesca]

From this assignment.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah, absolutely. I don't think I've ever written about plants, only animals.

[Mike Pesca]

People talk to trees or plants, but they sing to trees and plants also, don't they?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I have. I did not come across that, but apparently you have.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, yeah. I just maybe have wandered into weird recesses of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. There's a lot of chatter going on.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

A lot of people are talking to the plants, and they're just talking.

[Mike Pesca]

People are talking to the plants. People are talking to vines. People are talking to moss. They're just talking to everything. Maybe they're just on.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

On earbuds.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, maybe they're earbuds or having some sort of Florida hallucinations and it's just. Yeah, there you go. And the. And the talking is just coincidental. So. Okay, let us first establish what is the claim. What is the claim that people make on behalf of the generative properties of conversation vis a vis the herborific?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

So the soft claim is that talking to plants help them grow. And then the harder claim is that, like, plants actually care about the content of what you're saying.

[Mike Pesca]

Interesting.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay, the. The just talking to them. That seems like you could do an experiment on that. Have they?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

No, but. Well, okay, so there's no research specifically studying people talking to plants. Nothing. But there's a lot of pseudo research, actually.

[Mike Pesca]

Great, let's dive in.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Well, first of all, on my way here, I saw there was a store called like, someone's name's Gardens.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And I was like, oh, I'm going to just pop in there and do a little like, reporter on the street and asked this guy if he talks. Just plants. But I went in and it was a pot shop.

[Mike Pesca]

Oh, okay. So I thought it would maybe be a Billy on the street type segment where you just run around to trees and ask questions and see if they gave you any information.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

That sounds very Conan o' Brien.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's Billy. It's Billie Eilish. This is not Billie Eilish. What's the guy's name? Billy Eichner. Billy. Billy Eichner.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Oh, okay.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, that's right. Billie Eilish on the street.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

She I was like, that was.

[Mike Pesca]

She runs up to. Up to people and just is extremely shy. Right. Sticks the mic in the face and it says, are you a stupid guy? Okay, so pseudo information. You did a little first person investigation.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah. Didn't come up with a lot. But I have been asking my friends. A lot of my friends talk to plants.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And I immediately made fun of them.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And then I'm gonna have to eat my gardening hat in a minute. But.

[Mike Pesca]

Well, if they're, you know, if they're a delicious vegetable, if they're sweet potatoes eating to. If not the hat, then the actual plant might be, you know, delicious. Might work healthy.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

So. Okay. In 2004, MythBusters took up the case. The television show.

[Mike Pesca]

They're going to build seven self contained greenhouses. A control will have silence. One will have 24 hour heavy metal music, another classical. Two will be fed sweet talk, and the last two will get abuse.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

But they had a problem with their. Their greenhouse irrigation system didn't work at all. And so all the. When they went to check the plants, they were all wilted. But even so, if you believe they were all equally deprived.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

You. They found that sound did make them grow.

[Mike Pesca]

What? Wait, wait, what? Like our irrigation was screwed up. We didn't try to correct it and do it again?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

But they all died at. Or withered at a certain rate. Yeah, but there was some talked to plants and some weren't. And the talk to were comparatively better. Is that what they.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah, the ones that. Well, the best. The ones that did the best were played. Heavy metal was played at them.

[Mike Pesca]

Sure.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And the. But the one with a woman talking to them did pretty well. And then the ones with no noise didn't grow that much. But I couldn't find numbers or anything. And they definitely didn't do any statistical tests that I'm aware of.

[Mike Pesca]

I would say the myth is intact.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I think it's intact. They said it's plausible.

[Mike Pesca]

You just did a bad experiment. The irrigation system didn't work. Oh, my God. Moving on. By the way, am I making this up? Is Skunk Baxter from the Doobie Brothers? Is he one of the myth busters?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I have no idea, but I hope so.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. So that would be weird if they went. Well, I don't know. Weird, but heavy metal. Why not just pull it back into the yacht rock that the Doobie Brothers are known for?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

If.

[Mike Pesca]

Unless Skunk Baxter had no involvement in the Mythbusters and it was James Matt Hatfield from Metallica. Maybe he was a really. He was an Actual Mythbuster. Okay, so that was an experiment that seemed really weird. What else happened?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

They get worse from here.

[Mike Pesca]

Oh, great.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

In 2013, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science had a situation where you could tweet at their plants and then a mechanical voice would read it.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And they only had two plants.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And so. And they lost their. They lost their findings or they couldn't find them.

[Mike Pesca]

God, this is comically tragic.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And then there was one by the Royal Horticulture horticulturalist.

[Mike Pesca]

Let me guess. They, in passing, said something, and then they lost it in a fire. And then they followed the ashes, and then with some of the ashes that the plants that they talked to, they fertilized it, and then they lost that in a flood. Is that what happened?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I don't know, because they didn't respond to my emails. All I could find was that they, in, like, other media reports, said that they had 10 tomato plants total in their whole study.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

They played, oh, volunteers reading famous works of English literature, and the female voices caused the plants to grow up to 2 inches taller than the male voices.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay. That something. It just is. Such a small sample.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Such a small sample. Yeah. And. Yeah, but that's all they. That's all we have so far. And so I thought, well, we won't know. But interestingly, I did find a survey by trees.com. i could not find any methodology on this survey, but According to them, 48% of people admit to talking to their plants, and a quarter of the plant talkers also kiss their plants.

[Mike Pesca]

Oh, okay.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And that includes King Charles.

[Mike Pesca]

King Charles is a type of plant. Oh, you mean King Charles.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

King Charles is a avowed and enthusiastic plant talker.

[Mike Pesca]

He is. He's into a lot of things, like, you know, horticultural, maybe Royal Horticultural pursuits. All right, so terrible, terrible studies. Lost Fire. Lost results. Self selected. Non. Non at all. Thorough Study design on trees.com. this is horrible. Yes, it's just. It's just a. Just a disaster. Anything. Anything about anything. We could hang this claim on. Anything solid.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Well, after reading the worst studies I've ever read in my life, I read the best study I've ever read in my entire life.

[Mike Pesca]

Thank you, Sadie.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I knew you'd pull it out, so I. So, as it turns out, there's a whole area of science called, like, phyloacoustics.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And it's about how plants respond to sound. And it's very. It's super interesting. And one of the, like, papers that sort of broke this field wide open was in 2019, these scientists at Tel Aviv University did an incredible study where they found that that evening primrose flowers respond to the sound of buzzing bees by ramping up their sugar production, making their nectar 20% sweeter.

[Mike Pesca]

Interesting.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And this one had hundreds of flowers in it.

[Mike Pesca]

Interesting.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And the way that they did it is they had what I'm assuming were grad students hold like a little, actually a very advanced speaker and like buy each flower like it was a bee for like 30 seconds before moving on.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And they also, of course, had to empty the nectar before they started and then test the sugar for each flower.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And then. And then measure the nectar after they did the test.

[Mike Pesca]

Wow.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And they had so many controls. Right. So they had speakers that were playing bee buzzing sounds that were recorded. That they recorded. But they also had a speaker that was playing, let's see, Speech, human speech. They had a. It was a sweep, a sweep of sound from fifty to a thousand hertz.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay. So just random noise, but within a range.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah, but I think it's probably not random noise. Like, I think it's like o, you know, and then back down.

[Mike Pesca]

That's good. Good job.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Thanks. Thanks.

[Mike Pesca]

I'm flowering.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And they also had a silent condition. So that means some of these grad students are holding a speaker by the.

[Mike Pesca]

Flowers like an idiot. But like, just to do, they put the grad students in noise canceling headphones. So they don't even know if their sound is emanating.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

That just occurred to me too. I was like, is this double blind, though? What if they're good vibes?

[Mike Pesca]

Are they dressing anyone in black and yellow stripes? Do they have a stinger for some of them in the back? That would be. That's a commitment to the bit.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

But it was just really just a really impressive finding. So the sound. So the flowers responded to the buzz.

[Mike Pesca]

Bee noise.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And they also.

[Mike Pesca]

Rando noise. Speech. Noise, not speech.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Sorry.

[Mike Pesca]

Oh, not human speech.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Just the random speech sweep in the audible. Human audible range. They also did a sweep in the ultrasonic range, so not audible to humans. And they did. Yeah, the recorded bebas and silence. And so they found. Yeah, that the plants responded to the bee buzz and also the audible sweep. So they're responding to sound.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And so the next question was, what part of the plant is responding to the sound?

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And they thought that it was probably the petals. And so they did a study where they found the natural resonance of the petals and it was 200 hertz. So which is the same, roughly the same like hertz as pitch as a bee buzz.

[Mike Pesca]

See, this Makes sense. I love this because it's not just magical thinking and maybe talking to plants. They said, well, why might talking to plants work? Maybe it's in the same realm of sonic sound. So we'll just eschew the idea of actually talking. We'll get the kind of sound that is in the same range as the humans, and they then measure it to see if it works. I like that design. Remember we talked about the buttons with the dogs and it just seemed like nonsense. This is not nonsense. I like this study.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Well, you know what? We're the ones extrapolating to humans talking. They. I don't think they mentioned it anywhere in their paper. They were just curious if plants could respond to any sound.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay, yeah, but some of the sound would be human sound. But anyway, forget the human. It doesn't matter. I don't want to over index for if. If human speech is very important. Just different sounds. And you're saying that it was 20% sweeter with the buzz sound and that the sweetness comes from. Or it's affected on the pedals. Did they find that.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Okay, well, it was also 20% sweeter for just the sweep of noise sound, like different pitches?

[Mike Pesca]

Yes.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And it has to come from, like, it has to be within the audible range. And it didn't respond to. Yeah, ultrasonic or so. And, and then. Okay, so then they measured the natural resonance of the petals and they found it to be about 200, which is bees are 200 to 500 hertz and. Or the. The species of bees that pollinate evening primrose and moths are about 100 hertz. And the, like, the petals, you know, responded a little, but not much.

[Mike Pesca]

Right.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And so, so, so the, and the way that they felt figured out that it was just the pedal is they encased the pedal in glass and they played the sounds for it too. And the pedal did not vibrate.

[Mike Pesca]

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They protected it from glass. Would stop the noise from coming through.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah. And it. So it wasn't. The other parts of the plant were not capturing the sound. It was. So that. That means. This is so cool. That means that the pedal is acting a lot like the. The hair cells in our ears. Oh, because you have like a hair cell or a few of them to capture every single hertz, every single, like, band that we can perceive. These flowers just have one as far as we know. But that. That mechanical vibration is how our ears work too.

[Mike Pesca]

Is this cilia? Is this based on cilia? The little hairs? Are those cilia?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Those are little hairs. But I feel like they're not cilia, but they're. But I remember thinking the same thing.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I'm like, oh, wow, we have little hairs everywhere. But I guess they're not similar. Yeah, but they're. They're really cool. I mean, it's a very mechanical. And it's. That's why we respond to sound a lot faster than others, than, like, visual things, because that. You're skipping a step, basically.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you know if evening primrose growers have used this in their cultivation?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I do not know, but we aren't really cultivating primroses for nectar.

[Mike Pesca]

Oh. It's just a byproduct. That's not where most of our nectar originates from. Well, not just for the bees. Right.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, I don't. They only chose evening primrose because they had a bunch around.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And. But okay, so. So we don't really know about if talking to plants would make them grow, but this seems pretty solid that talking to plants would cause evening primrose to produce sweeter nectar. And they're definitely, in some sense, perceiving sound, right?

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

So.

[Mike Pesca]

So if you can extrapolate from that there is some sort of an effect from. Of noise to plants, and then the extrapolation is human speech is noise. Maybe it'll help. If not nectar production, maybe growth.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

But really interestingly so they. They did do one for growth. Not these researchers, but a different group of researchers. We're looking at strawberries.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And they didn't just, like, do gentle bee buzzing sounds. They blasted these strawberries.

[Mike Pesca]

Everyone's always going, like, reaching for the heavy metal.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

They are. They were.

[Mike Pesca]

It doesn't even seem. They're scientists. They're just trying to make a point and be funny.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Oh, by the way, the. The really good experiment had findings that totally match with the bad experiment. The Royal Horticulturalist Society.

[Mike Pesca]

But wait, was that.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And the mythbusters, they're all. They're all in the same direction.

[Mike Pesca]

Huh. And what did the. What did the last one that you were talking about, the strawberries. What did they show?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

So the strawberries is an interesting and complic. Where the. So they blasted the strawberries for two hours a day or five hours a day of pretty loud broadband sound. And they. So 70 to 100 decibels, 0.1 to 1 kilohertz, and they did it for 22 to 72 days. Anyway, the point is that they looked at the number of leaves, the number of flowers and berries, and the Concentration of five different hormones. And the sound had, like, different effects at different stages in the growth of the plant. And it seems like it's acting like a general stressor. So at two, for the two hours a day, the. That actually caused the plants to be sort of mildly stressed out. And they grew. They did grow better. They flowered earlier, but at five hours, it stunted the growth of the plants.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. So just too much. Shut up. So if you're overwhelmingly overwhelming me with chatter.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah, right. And neither of the. None of the conditions are like what a human talking to a plant would be. But if you want to yell at your plant like a drill sergeant, like, just make sure it's not more than.

[Mike Pesca]

Two hours for five hours. Yeah. You don't want to make preserves. That will be very, very, very tart.

[Ronan Bergman]

Yes.

[Mike Pesca]

I would think.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And then there's all this other. There's other research showing plants responding like, quote, unquote, intelligently to other sorts of environmental sounds. Like roots will grow towards water. The sound of water.

[Mike Pesca]

Yes.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

It's amazing.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. It's good stuff.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

It's so interesting.

[Mike Pesca]

But the strawberry stuff, I wonder if that's a weird design. I wonder if, you know, I'd like to see. They did two, they did five. I wonder if there is, no pun intended, a sweet spot of that. That'd be interesting.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

It was. Yeah, it's interesting. I don't know how they put those two endpoints because that's just a lot of noise.

[Mike Pesca]

And you're. And the only thing that resulted was the growth of the strawberry, not the sweetness. Not the.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

They didn't test the sweetness, but they count. Yeah. The growth of the plant and then the flowering, the number of flowers and the number of strawberries.

[Mike Pesca]

All right.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

So talking to plants will help plant growth. Is that bullshit.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

The context that we're talking about when most people are talking about talking to plants is like occasionally visiting an indoor plant.

[Mike Pesca]

Right.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

And to me, that could. Well, so plants respond to sound for sure. And they probably. I feel they don't care what the sound is. And I feel like it's very unlikely they care about the content of our speech. But a woman is going to be more effective than a man, at least according to the Primrose study, because women voices happen to overlap with pollinator sounds.

[Mike Pesca]

And they're better listeners, let's face it.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I guess. But if you have a plant that's pollinated by moths, then a man talking to it might be better.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, I guess. But most plants are like, I don't know. You ever hang out with a man? It's just a lot of stuff about him. They never ask any questions. They never pause. Yeah, maybe the plants go on strike. I don't know. Yeah, they're like, just treat me in the corner like I'm a house plant. I mean, I happen to be a houseplant, but it's, you know, one of the complaints about people who are out on either dates, figs, or any other sort of plant with a man.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Right.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's go back, though. Talking to plants can't help growth. Is that bullshit?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

It is not bullshit.

[Mike Pesca]

Surprising the irrigation system of Mythbusters is deficient. Is that bullshit?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

It is definitely not bullshit. Because they had a problem.

[Mike Pesca]

I think that. I think that their irrigation system needs a major overhaul. You can't read the limited studies and findings from that one experiment. That's just my opinion.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Well, they were in the right direction, though. So.

[Mike Pesca]

A former member of the Doobie Brothers and Mythbusters. Is that bullshit?

[Sadie Dingfelder]

I have no idea.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you know this is the right thing to do? I'm going to. After we're done, I'm going to look up Skunk, Baxter City, Ding Felder is the author of Do I Know you? A Face Blind Reporter's Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory and Imagination. She comes by, she plays. Is that with us? Thank you so much, Sadie.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

Thank you.

[Mike Pesca]

I don't know. All these meetings, trying to remember. Wait, what did we just say? Here's a solution that we've been using at just world headquarters that it seems like it's making us smarter, but it's a tool that itself is smart. Fireflies. Let's say you're in a meeting and you're getting interrupted all the time and you're trying to look up information, but you can't incorporate it into the meeting. Just say, hey, Fireflies. And get real time, reliable answers directly inside your video call. It's time to upgrade your AI note taker to be part of your team so your meetings can drive momentum rather than pull you down in the drudgery of it all. Fireflies. It's a little like magic, and it's very practical. The number one AI teammate. It transcribes, it summarizes, it analyzes conversation. You get the most out of meetings. It can be an additional is designed to be tailored for you, summaries that fit exactly what you're doing. Look, I don't want to give you too many ideas here or birth competitors, but Fireflies can actually make a podcast from your meeting or anything else they do podcast production. You'll get powerful collaboration tools like real time and up to date web search directly in your meetings, shareable sound bites, timestamp notes that allow you to pinpoint key moments. Very important bookmarks as well, and it's designed with security in mind. Right now when you sign up for a yearly Fireflies subscription, you get your first two months free. Just go to Fireflies AI Slash the gist that is right two months free. Check it out. I think you will be very impressed. Slash blown away two months free when you go to Fireflies AI the gist that's Fireflies AI thegist this Father's Day.

[Home Depot Advertiser]

Help dad be all he can be with a gift from the Home Depot. Because he's not just dad, he's the handyman of the house, the plumber in a pinch and the emergency mechanic. Upgrade his gear this Father's Day with The Husky Mechanics 270 piece tool set from the Home Depot now on Special buy for $119. A $695 value for every kind of dad. Find the perfect gift this Father's Day at the Home Depot.

[Mike Pesca]

And now the spiel what we know of Israel strikes on Iran I should say Israel's first series of strikes on Iran as of this recording. Yes, it is a serious escalation as to where things were before. But where things were before was so tense as to be said to be in a state of war. The world superpowers, the world's regional powers, are right to be cautious, but this overwhelming inclination when assessing all of this should not be mostly worry over World War three. Why? World War III usually means a large fight with a nuclear power. And Iran does not have a very large or capable military. Actually, it has a large military. A lot of people serve in it, but they have almost no capacity, for instance, to strike the United States except by acts of terrorism, which would be suicidal should they decide to go that route. And furthermore, the strike by Israel was designed and seems to have gone quite a ways to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Okay, so what was struck? Some nuclear sites, certainly Natanz. But it's unclear if for Doha, the major Iranian nuclear facility buried deep in a mountain was hit, research facilities were hit, technical centers were hit, and humans were hit and killed. This is incredibly important. Ronan Bergman for My Shekels, the very best security and military correspondent out there. He writes for the New York Times, was on the dance podcast early this morning, and Bergman emphasized that the timing of the decision by Israel to target and kill many key nuclear scientists, but also the commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guard, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, the commander of the aerospace force, which is the missile program. That timing, that decision, how they did it, when they did it was key. It was wise, he said, to rise and kill first before they did and before the facilities were destroyed, because that would have alerted them, the individuals, that something was afoot. It was once again an unbelievably impressive display of Israel military intelligence. They knew where the head of the Revolutionary Guard slept. Video of his 11th floor smoking apartment accompanied the news. The apartments on the ninth floor and lower had their lights on. They were intact. This called a precision strike. Bergman said that Israel has an understanding of the macro and the micro of the Iranian mindset, where Israel believed that.

[Ronan Bergman]

They know the enemy better than the enemy knows itself. Look at what happened in the world in the 24 hours prior to the Israeli strike. Like, I think that there were very few people in the Middle east and Europe, in the US who didn't know, didn't suspect that Israel is going to strike. But the Iranians kept on publishing statements saying, we know what the Israelis and Trump are doing. They are just flexing muscles in order to put pressure on the negotiations, towards the negotiation on Sunday. And so Israel took them by surprise and took advantage of the fact that they don't see a need to go to an emergency state.

[Mike Pesca]

Of course, maybe the Iranians were engaged in bluster or just insults when talking that way about nuclear negotiations. A lot of what they say is for domestic consumption. Of course, maybe they knew their adversaries were quite dangerous and could strike. They were just defenseless to stop it. So say something bold. Or maybe they didn't understand what the United States was up to in the ongoing nuclear negotiations that seemed to be going nowhere. That could have been the design. The Wall Street Journal today had an interesting article. US diplomacy served as cover for Israeli surprise attack talks seen as a way to keep the peace gave Israel the opportunity to land heavy military blows. On the Times of Israel podcast, their diplomatic correspondent Laser Berman filled in more details.

[Laser Berman]

Yeah, so it seems like there was more coordination. At least what I'm hearing from officials in the Prime Minister's office that the US has known for at least a week, perhaps more. But we can say that in the entire week they knew. And if that is indeed the case, then you have to look at all the statements coming out of the US through that light. Now, there was anonymous officials briefing ABC and NBC and saying that a strike might be close. That seems to be, you know, they did that independently. But in terms of what Trump was saying, you also heard Ambassador Mike Huckabee saying, you know, Huckabee said, I don't think Israel will do it with the U.S. okay? And then Trump was saying, you know, I've told them not to do it. And if you remember, Monday, Trump and Netanyahu spoke, and the reports that came out, I mean, it would seem from the Israeli side, was that it was a tense conversation, it was a dramatic conversation. And the real headline there was that Trump had told Netanyahu that he doesn't have a green light to attack. So if you look at all of that now, it would seem like that was part of a coordinated deception campaign.

[Mike Pesca]

Donald Trump tweeted truth that he had given the Iranians 60 days to sign a deal. And he noted that the day of the attacks, Yesterday was day 61. I got to say, even if that's bluster, it's good bluster. The Iranians cannot actually answer the question, was this all part of a plan? And here's another headline in the Journal. Trump warned Iran of more brutal attacks without nuclear deal.

[Sadie Dingfelder]

That is.

[Mike Pesca]

That is some kind of diplomacy, is it not? The Trump tough talk, even if just capitalizing on a situation not of his making, was smart, clever, I think effective, but also was, in contrast to Secretary of Defense Marco Rubio, statements emphasizing of the United States, quote, we are not involved in strikes against Iran, didn't fire missiles yet. That's probable. US had no foreknowledge, no way. In October of 2024, Iranians launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel. And there was one fatality of all these hundreds of missiles. A poor Palestinian guy in the west bank who had a chunk of metal fall out of the sky onto his head. But there was a question after these strikes, would the United States be as stalwart in its defense of the Israelis, given Rubio's language and distancing? But it's looking like the answer is going to be yes. Trump was on Fox saying the US Will defend Israel. The Saudis issued statements decrying Israeli aggression, but of course, they love the damage done to their dangerous rival. They will help in Israel's defense. Iran has launched 100 drones already, they say, and none have done damage. It seems that they don't have anything close to the intelligence or the knowledge that the Israelis did, which, like the Ukrainians two weeks ago, saw them infiltrating their enemy's territory and launching Small, deadly quadcopters from inside. This is the new phrase of cheap asymmetrical warfare. And it does put the United States on notice. So I'll play you a clip from Shashank Joshi, the defense reporter for the Economist, talking to Yasha Mook. This was a couple of days ago. The topic was how warfare everywhere is changing.

[Shashank Joshi]

There is a huge problem. The problem is, if you look at sort of 2012, right, Taiwan had 306 hardened air shelters. These are like big hangars that are extremely protected against aerial attack. China had 297. It had fewer of them in the intervening period. China has built 380 additional ones. And America has only 15 hardened air shelters within 1,000 kilometers of Taiwan, which is basically where a lot of Chinese missiles can reach. So basically what we are seeing, Yasha, is a problem that many people have identified and where, frankly, the Americans are still astonishingly complacent.

[Mike Pesca]

So the US Is mentioned there. The hardening of airfields will be in order. China mentioned there, too. One of the world's third most potent military power. This strike very much hurts Russians efforts in Ukraine. The Iranians were supplying the drones that have been torturing Ukrainian citizens. So this strike, called preemptive by the Israelis, described as preventative by international lawyers, unwilling to concede the preemptive designation. This strike will undoubtedly save innocent Ukrainian lives. And it might change the peace talks there too, though not nearly as deeply as the peace talks around the Iranian nuclear ambitions were changed. Israel vows another two weeks of what it dubs Operation Rising Lion. The Israeli public will be sheltering for a while. Israeli reservists, already stretched thin with the Gaza war, will be and have been called up. But this has all the hallmarks of a regional and I'm going to say worldwide rebalancing. And it looks like that rebalancing will be more towards peace, which is to say one of the world's most dangerous and belligerent nations denied the most dangerous weapon available. And of course, let us remember, this was all done at the execution of the most loathed military in the world. And that's it for today's show. Cory War produces the gist. Astrid Green does our socials. Kathleen Sykes, she's the editor of the Gist List. Ashley Khan is the production coordinator for the gist. Michelle Pesca does all that she sees. She sits over that and calls the shots and moves the chess pieces. Leo Baums, our intern, he's very good with coming up with databases. Data's base improvement. Thanks for listening. The gist is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses. Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.