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，與植物說話有助于促進它們的生長，但你有沒有想過它們會怎樣回應？

現在，日本一顆植物的“博客”或許能為你解開這個疑問。

日本一顆名叫“綠（Midori-san）”的盆栽植物每天在一個傳感器和電腦的幫助下“寫”博客，傳感器的作用是測量電子信號，而電腦則通過一個運算程序將這些信號翻譯成文字。這株盆栽植物生長在東京附近鐮倉市一家咖啡廳的柜臺上，高40厘米（16英寸）。

這顆植物是一株心形球蘭，因其葉子呈心形，常被稱為“開心草”。

日本慶應義塾大學參與該項目的研究員栗林說：“最初我們是想了解植物的‘情緒變化’，以及在人不知曉的情況下，會做出怎樣的回應。”

“綠”的心形綠葉被光照射和人觸摸后會產生回應，而它所攜帶的傳感器則能夠測量其葉子表面的電子信號的強弱，然后再將這些數據傳輸到咖啡館的一臺電腦上。

電腦通過一個運算程序將這些信號數據以及天氣和溫度等其它信息轉化成文字，然后將其貼在:“綠”的博客（http://plant.bowls-cafe.jp/index.php）上。

“綠”在本月16日的博客中寫道：“今天陽光明媚，美美地享受了日光浴，真開心哪。”

最近的一篇博客寫道：“今天多云，有點冷?！?/P>

栗林博士說，他希望今后這個博客能更準確地反映“綠”的“心情”。

日本人很喜歡用電腦和手機寫博客，根據Techocrati博客搜索引擎去年的一項統計數據，日語博客占全球博客總數的37%，居世界首位，其次是英語博客和中文博客。

Vocabulary:

potted plant:盆栽植物