Science & technology | Deafened

Plants are adversely affected by the racket of urban traffic

They get stressed and grow less well

Stress and the city

MANY ANIMALS depend upon sound to find food, detect predators and communicate with one another. These species understandably suffer when loud motorways cut through their habitats. Some cope by singing more loudly, some change the timing of their calls to occur when fewer people are driving, others just move to quieter locales.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Deafened”

When the ride ends

From the February 12th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Science & technology

Heart with a face holding up weights in each hand

Should you start lifting weights?

You’ll stay healthier for longer if you’re strong

A person sleeping. The frame is split between night and day.

Does melatonin work for jet lag?

It can help. But it depends where you’re going


A network of pixelated hearts

Training AI models might not need enormous data centres

Eventually, models could be trained without any dedicated hardware at all


How the Gulf’s rulers want to harness the power of science

A stronger R&D base, they hope, will transform their countries’ economies. Will their plan work?

Cancer vaccines are showing promise at last

Trials are under way against skin, brain and lung tumours

New firefighting tech is being trialled in Sardinia’s ancient forests

It could sniff out blazes long before they spread out of control