Blog offers potted history of life as a plant

It has long been accepted that talking to plants can help them flourish, but have you ever wondered what they'd say in response?

Well a plant in Japan has its own blog that may help you understand.

"Midori-san," a 40 cm (16 inches)potted plant on a cafe counter in Kamakura, near Tokyo, blogs every day with the help of a sensor that measures electric signals and a computer algorithm that translates them into Japanese.

The plant, a hoya kerrii, is commonly called a "sweetheart plant" because of its leaf shape.

"We were initially interested in what plants are feeling and what they are reacting to where we can't see," said Satoshi Kuribayashi, a researcher involved in the project at Japan's Keio University.

The strength of electronic signals on the surface of Midori-san's heart-shaped green leaves, which react to light and human touch, are measured by a sensor attached to the plant, and this data is sent to a computer in the cafe.

The computer uses an algorithm to translate the signal data, as well as other factors -- including weather and temperature -- to translate them into words, which are automatically posted on Midori-san's blog (http://plant.bowls-cafe.jp/index.php)

"Today was a sunny day and I was able to sunbathe a lot... I had quite a bit of fun today," Midori-san, whose name means "green" in Japanese, posted on Oct 16.

The latest entry reads: "It was cloudy today. It was a cold day."

Kuribayashi said he hopes that in the future, the blog will reflect even more accurately of Midori-san's feelings.

Blogging with computers and mobile phones is popular in Japan, which had the greatest number of blog posts by language at 37 percent, followed by English and Chinese posts, a study from blog search engine Technocrati in 2007 showed.

大家都知道，与植物说话有助于促进它们的生长，但你有没有想过它们会怎样回应？

现在，日本一颗植物的“博客”或许能为你解开这个疑问。

日本一颗名叫“绿（Midori-san）”的盆栽植物每天在一个传感器和电脑的帮助下“写”博客，传感器的作用是测量电子信号，而电脑则通过一个运算程序将这些信号翻译成文字。这株盆栽植物生长在东京附近镰仓市一家咖啡厅的柜台上，高40厘米（16英寸）。

这颗植物是一株心形球兰，因其叶子呈心形，常被称为“开心草”。

日本庆应义塾大学参与该项目的研究员栗林说：“最初我们是想了解植物的‘情绪变化’，以及在人不知晓的情况下，会做出怎样的回应。”

“绿”的心形绿叶被光照射和人触摸后会产生回应，而它所携带的传感器则能够测量其叶子表面的电子信号的强弱，然后再将这些数据传输到咖啡馆的一台电脑上。

电脑通过一个运算程序将这些信号数据以及天气和温度等其它信息转化成文字，然后将其贴在:“绿”的博客（http://plant.bowls-cafe.jp/index.php）上。

“绿”在本月16日的博客中写道：“今天阳光明媚，美美地享受了日光浴，真开心哪。”

最近的一篇博客写道：“今天多云，有点冷。”

栗林博士说，他希望今后这个博客能更准确地反映“绿”的“心情”。

日本人很喜欢用电脑和手机写博客，根据Techocrati博客搜索引擎去年的一项统计数据，日语博客占全球博客总数的37%，居世界首位，其次是英语博客和中文博客。

Vocabulary:

potted plant:盆栽植物