CSF January 2023: Local News

Menlo Park Nativity school student earns prestigious STEM award

Victoria’s project, “Green Ears,” demonstrates the possibility that plants can communicate their health status through sound emissions.

Victoria Harding Bradley, 14, was recognized on Nov. 1 with the first-place Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) award in the science category for her project, Green Ears: A Study of Ultrasonic Acoustic Emissions in Response to Environmental Stressors in Plants. Her project, developed during her 8th-grade year at Nativity Catholic School in Menlo Park, measured the extent that plants “signal” if they are under pressure from their environment, eco-system or the care they receive.

The Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars), a program of Society for Science, is the nation’s premier science and engineering competition for middle school students. The program awards middle-school students for their STEM passions, with the goal of inspiring them to continue their pursuit of science and engineering. Thirty finalists, including Victoria, collectively took home more than $100,000 in awards.

“Humans and animals communicate their needs through sound, and I wondered if plants could do the same. If they can, that information could be used to better understand and optimize how we care for plants, both in commercial farming and in our own gardens,” said Bradley.

Using bat ultrasonic detectors, tested and analyzed the sound profiles of more than 1,000 hours of plant recordings, with 20 different experiments based on five specific stressors (drought, adverse sounds, pruning, contaminated water and bug attack) for six plant species.

Bradley explained, “Plants communicate louder, more often and more urgently in stressful environments. They communicate at different frequencies.…By tracking the sound emissions of different species of plants, growers can respond more efficiently and sustainably to identify and manage plants failing due to stressors from within large fields of plants. This information can revolutionize plant growth efficiency.”

Bradley’s project and was first presented at the school science fair before being entered in the national competition.