# Spinach can send email **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 2, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069 "2021-02-02T18:15:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/1 "2021-02-02T18:15:20Z")
Will cucumbers be next or carrots? > **[Scientists have taught spinach to send emails](https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/02/01/scientists-have-taught-spinach-to-send-emails-and-it-could-warn-us-about-climate-change)** > > It sounds too weird to be true, but engineers at MIT have developed nanotechnology which can be embedded in plants. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/2 "2021-02-02T18:21:41Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Will cucumbers be next or carrots? - Kale mail. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/3 "2021-02-02T18:22:27Z")
Yeah, but all it wants to talk about is chlorophyll. ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/4 "2021-02-02T19:37:56Z")
It uses all the lettuce of the alphabet. But seriously, sounds like humans just point a sensor at the spinach and measure changes to the chemistry. Talk about tabloidy headlines. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/5 "2021-02-02T20:16:53Z")
From: Spinach To: Popeye Subject: Use a damn can opener ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/6 "2021-02-02T23:00:46Z")
Tweeting tomatoes? Tiktoking taro? Facebooking fruits friending each other? Myspace for mustard greens(cause mustard greens, rock out with your…leaves out) And lastly, perhaps leastly, snapchat for snap beans ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/7 "2021-02-03T02:55:23Z")
YouTubers ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/8 "2021-02-03T05:05:05Z")
I’ve always held that plant’s “think”. Simply put, sunflowers feel discomfort when facing away from the sun, and to relieve the pain, they choose to turn toward the sun. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/9 "2021-02-03T05:40:59Z")
Baked beans. (“Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans and spam”.) ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/10 "2021-02-03T07:14:58Z")
> When the spinach roots detect the presence of nitroaromatics in groundwater, a compound often found in explosives like landmines, the carbon nanotubes within the plant leaves emit a signal. There’s one problem with using spinach to detect landmines. Who’s going to _plant_ the spinach on a field where there may be landmines? 💥 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/11 "2021-02-03T07:16:20Z")
Everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that the spinach was created to detect explosives. If I read a sci-fi story about wi-fi enabled bomb-sniffing spinach, I would have thought it to be just too silly to be taken seriously. I’m also pretty sure I never once imagined that I would ever type out the phrase wi-fi enabled bomb-sniffing spinach. If we’re starting to weaponize vegetables, I think the future is less Facebooking Fruit and more along the lines of Tactical Tomatoes. Spy Spuds also comes to mind. Is the CIA going to start sending fruit baskets to the embassies of our enemies? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/12 "2021-02-03T07:36:00Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Baked beans They have other ways of expressing themselves. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/13 "2021-02-03T07:38:38Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that the spinach was created to detect explosives. > > If I read a sci-fi story about wi-fi enabled bomb-sniffing spinach, I would have thought it to be just too silly to be taken seriously. I’m also pretty sure I never once imagined that I would ever type out the phrase wi-fi enabled bomb-sniffing spinach. > > If we’re starting to weaponize vegetables, I think the future is less Facebooking Fruit and more along the lines of Tactical Tomatoes. Spy Spuds also comes to mind. Is the CIA going to start sending fruit baskets to the embassies of our enemies? _Bomb de Terres_ (credit Tommy Chong, in _The Corsican Brothers_.) ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/14 "2021-02-03T08:02:56Z")
Living in a world where spinach can send emails… [![](https://i.ibb.co/7rjbP6c/Et-N9-IMHXUAAd5-Bw-format-jpg-name-small.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/7rjbP6c/Et-N9-IMHXUAAd5-Bw-format-jpg-name-small.jpg) (Credit [@misterbrilliant](https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant)) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/15 "2021-02-03T16:10:20Z")
But can it use Spinach Salad Layer? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/16 "2021-02-03T16:30:35Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Tweeting tomatoes? > Tiktoking taro? > Facebooking fruits friending each other? I have a feeling the collective VQ of the veggies will mean the quality of stuff posted on social media will go up, not down, once they start to displace the ~~humans~~ v2.0 chimps. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/17 "2021-02-04T06:06:38Z")
Reminds me of [this story](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-12/people-are-emailing-trees/10468964?nw=0) > Melbourne gave 70,000 trees email addresses so people could report on their condition. But instead people are writing love letters, existential queries and sometimes just bad puns. I don’t believe any of the trees reply though ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/18 "2021-02-04T06:54:20Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Simply put, sunflowers feel discomfort when facing away from the sun, and to relieve the pain, they choose to turn toward the sun. Sunflowers don’t have nerves and thus don’t feel discomfort; they don’t have brains and thus can’t “choose.” There’s an ecological advantage to sunflowers turning: flowers facing the sun get warm and are thus more frequently visited by bees and butterflies. And I hate to be a killjoy, but spinach doesn’t send emails, either. Infrared sensors detect signals from the spinach’s carbon nanotubes when its roots encounter explosives in the groundwater, and the _cameras_ send an email. Much as I love the Disney version of nature–I’m still waiting for bluebirds to come dress me in the morning–this ain’t it. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/19 "2021-02-04T08:41:37Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > There’s an ecological advantage to sunflowers turning: flowers facing the sun get warm and are thus more frequently visited by bees and butterflies. So they _enjoy_ turning towards the sun! 😃 🌻 🌞🐝 🦋     > [@nelliebly](#): > > And I hate to be a killjoy, but spinach doesn’t send emails, either. I’m so glad to learn that. They must have turned over a new leaf. Tomatoes tweeting are another matter, though… ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069/20 "2021-02-04T12:53:03Z")
Tomatoes tweeting would be like, totally killer [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinach-can-send-email/932069.md?page=2)