Scientists Make Plants“Fall Asleep”

Cici

Sometimes doctors give people medicine so they wont feel pain. Certain drugs block1 pain or make people fall asleep. But people and other animals are not the only living things that these drugs work on. They can “knock out”2 plants， too.

Scientists studied a plant called the Venus flytrap （捕蝇草）. It closes its leaves to catch bugs. When these plants received sleep medicine， they were unable to close their leaves for a few minutes. Another kind of plant moves its leaves when coming in contact with an object. But the drug kept the plants from moving for several hours.

Scientists are not sure how this kind of medicine works in people or plants. But they think studying plants will help them find out.

植物也能被麻醉

有時，医生会使用麻醉剂帮助人们摆脱疼痛。这些药剂或是阻断痛觉，或是让人昏睡。 如今研究发现，植物对麻醉剂的反应类似于动物和人类，它们一样会被“放倒”。

研究人员对捕蝇草进行了实验。这类植物通过闭合叶片来捕捉昆虫。当被麻醉剂作用后，它们的“捕虫陷阱”在几分钟内就会失去作用。另一种被实验的植物是具备闭叶反应的含羞草。在麻药影响下，它们会好几个小时丧失对触摸刺激的反应。

尽管科学家们尚不清楚麻醉剂如何对人和植物产生作用，但他们希望未来植物可以用来辅助研究。