Clever calculating plants!

Incredible as it may seem researchers have discovered that Arabidopsis plants are actually using arithmetic calculations to ensure they have enough starch to keep them alive overnight.

Arabidopsis thaliana -
User:Roepers at nl.wikipedia - CC BY-SA 3.0

A discovery by research scientists from the John Innes Centre in Norfolk, UK , reveals that plants appear to assess the amount of starch they have available to them. They then divide it by the number of hours of darkness to make sure the correct levels are used through out the night. The researchers discovered that plants even adjust calculations to allow for variations in the hours of darkness, rationing starch to suit their needs.  Read more