October 3, 2004: Plant Perceptions - Cleve Backster

The accidental discovery on a DracaenaBackster recounts how, late one night in 1966, he attached polygraph electrodes to a Dracaena leaf to time water rising through the plant - and instead saw a tracing identical to a human telling a lie.

Burning the leaf - in his mindBackster describes forming the mere intent to burn the connected leaf with a match. Without speaking, moving, or touching anything, the plant's tracing 'jumped right up to the top of the page.'

Cracking an egg sets the meter on fireWhile preparing his Doberman's daily egg, Backster cracked one near a meter wired to a monitored plant. The needle flew into 'wild agitation' - leading him to electrode eggs and discover they react to each other when one is shaken.

Plants learn - and stop reactingBackster explains why his work is hard to repeat on demand: once a plant has experienced a threat and survived, it ceases to react. Spontaneity, he insists, is the variable critics miss.

Human white cells track their donor across the roomBackster describes harvesting oral leukocytes via saline rinse, wiring them into EEG equipment, and watching the cells' tracings reflect the emotional state of a donor seated elsewhere - work he says was extended to 300 miles.