Do Plants Think? & Why Dining Out Feels So Expensive - SYSK Choice

10 snips

May 2, 2026

Guest

Andrew Friedman

Guest

Zoë Schlanger

Zoë Schlanger, Atlantic writer who studies plant behavior, and Andrew Friedman, culinary writer and restaurant insider, join to explore quirky science and restaurant realities. Zoë describes how plants sense, signal, and react without brains. Andrew breaks down why dining out feels pricey, from menu math to tipping and where restaurants actually make money.

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INSIGHT

Plants Use Distributed Network Intelligence

Plants use distributed awareness instead of a central brain to coordinate growth and responses across limbs.
Zoë Schlanger explains plants evolved networked intelligence because they are rooted and must manage distant body parts without moving.

INSIGHT

Plants Communicate Danger With Chemicals

Plants warn neighbors chemically when attacked, prompting nearby plants to ramp up leaf toxins.
Zoë Schlanger gives the caterpillar example and tomatoes that exude compounds to induce cannibalism among caterpillars.

ANECDOTE

Seeing A Plant's Electrical Signal Changed Her

Zoë Schlanger describes pinching a plant under a microscope and watching a green luminosity travel through it.
That live visual of an electrical signal changed her view and convinced her plants notice touch.

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If you ever feel a wave of anxiety or that vague sense of dread, your first instinct probably isn’t to reach for a pain reliever. But there’s evidence that something you already have in your medicine cabinet may affect more than just physical pain—and the reason why is surprisingly unexpected. https://www.livescience.com/28770-tylenol-eases-existential-dread.html

Plants don’t have brains—so how could they possibly be intelligent? Yet research suggests plants can sense threats, communicate with each other, and even change their behavior in ways that seem surprisingly strategic. Zoë Schlanger, award-winning writer for The Atlantic and author of The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth (https://amzn.to/4deE12f), explores this hidden world and explains how plants may be far more responsive and complex than we ever imagined.

Dining out often comes with sticker shock. Between rising menu prices, service charges, and tipping, a simple meal can add up quickly. But what’s actually driving those costs? And why do some insiders argue that restaurants may still be underpriced? Andrew Friedman takes us behind the scenes of the restaurant industry and reveals the complex economics, labor, and logistics that shape the price of what ends up on your plate. He is author of the book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (https://amzn.to/3xWJjiE).

Let out a good sigh—it might do more than you think. People all over the world sigh, often without realizing it, and it plays a role in both how we communicate and how our bodies function. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-babble/201304/why-do-we-sigh

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