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What a plant’s decision-making reveals about intelligence

Although vital to survival, the mechanisms that guide plant roots have received limited scientific attention – in part because, hidden underground, they can prove hard to study. This short documentary from the Science Communication Lab profiles the biologist José R Dinneny. Using innovative techniques to reveal root systems, he studies how different plant species have evolved distinct strategies for finding water. The film moves between field sites in Santa Clara, California – to observe how roots respond across rainy and dry seasons – and Dinneny’s laboratory at Stanford University.

This work presents roots as active explorers rather than passive anchors, capable of sophisticated responses, despite lacking a brain or nervous system. Through Dinneny’s expertise, the film raises broader questions about perception, adaptation and what consciousness might mean. As our understanding of how roots ‘think’ grows, so too does our sense of what intelligence might look like beyond the animal world.

Video by Science Communication Lab

Directors: Elliot Kirschner, Regina Sobel

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