A Sense of Hearing? Plants can smell, but can they hear? A college student wanted to know. She experimented with music. First, she played classical music.


T e plants grew. T en she played rock music. T e plants didn’t grow. She thought she had the answer. Unfortunately, her test was not done in a scientific way. Later, other scientists tried


to repeat her experiment. T eir experiments were done in a more scientific way. T ey used a larger number of plants, for example. Yet the plants were not aff ected by music.


Learning About Plants T at’s one of the hard parts about scientific research. Experiments must be done again and again until the results are the same. For now, we don’t know if plants


can hear. Someday, someone may do an experiment that gives us a diff erent answer to this question. For now, it’s important that we


learn more about plants. We need plants for the oxygen we breathe. We need them for our clothing and food. T at’s why scientists continue their studies. In time, our knowledge of plants will grow.


Wordwise


conclusion: an opinion formed after careful research and thinking


experiment: a test used to find or prove something


hypothesis: an idea that has not been proved


method: a step-by-step plan to find out if an idea is true or not


observe: to gather information by looking at something closely


JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2014 23


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