When catching and digesting its prey, the Venus flytrap repeatedly counts the number of electrical signals (AP, action potentials). These processes are being investigated at the University of Würzburg. (Image: Sönke Scherzer / Universität Würzburg)
How does the Venus flytrap count and calculate? This is what the Würzburg plant researcher Rainer Hedrich wants to find out. For his project, he will receive 1.5 million euros from a renowned funding programme. In its Reinhart Koselleck programme, the German Research Foundation (DFG) supports selected scientific projects. Anyone who wants to succeed with their application must be able to demonstrate outstanding scientific achievements and plan a particularly innovative project. Rainer Hedrich from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany, meets these criteria. Over the past few years, funded by an ERC grant from the European Research Council, the professor has repeatedly published new and exciting findings about the carnivorous Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula ). One of his findings was that this plant can count up to five.
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