The physiological effects of exposing plants to acoustic frequencies and specific musical genres continues to be a subject of eclectic experimentation and investigation. You probably know of people interacting with plants and obtaining therapy from this interaction. The pathways of communications between plants and stimuli are not well understood.

The field of quantum mechanics has long been entwined with metaphysics. There was once a physicist called Louis de Broglie who pioneered the theory of ‘Matter waves’. This idea that material and energy had interchangeable characteristics which were capable of transformation proved to be a watershed concept which questioned the paradox of duality. Joel Sternheimer was a French researcher and a student of de Broglie. About 50 years ago, while conducting personal experiments with plant protein sequences, Sternheimer arrived at a possibility that translating protein sequences into musical frequencies could prove to be a potent stimuli and result in the incentivization or inhibition of particular functionalities linked to sequences, even reversibly.

Today there are several technologies that simply convert biological signals into music, for example U1 or MIDI Sprout, which consist of an electromagnetic apparatus that can be connected to different parts of the plant and reflect in audible frequencies. In Sternheimer's method, the translations of the vibrations of molecules into musical notes are referred to as “proteodies” (real melodies derived from the sequence of amino acids). A patent linked to the discovery contains further explanations on the derivation of the duration and octave used for each note in addition to the correct frequencies. The protein sequences can be found on online databases, showing the letters and the order.

It appeared to be possible to guide a plant’s behavior, increase its volume or eliminate the proliferation of harmful bacteria, allowing the plants to “listen” to specific sequences translated into notes for a few minutes each day, through a dedicated acoustic system. Such methodologies, if proven consistent and understood could result in massive improvements helping individuals and industries, thanks to lower costs and ecological effects compared to the use of fertilizers and other chemicals. Plants have senses that resemble those of animals. In fact, plants can “see”, “feel”, “smell” and “taste”. It thus should not be outrageous to think that they can “hear” as well. In addition to the above stated sensory capabilities, plants have some 15 other senses that are unique to the vegetal world. For instance, like birds, they are sensitive to gravitational and magnetic fields, and recognize and measure numerous chemical gradients in the air or in the ground.

It is obvious that plants are highly intelligent beings. Having no brain, in the animal sense, they work on a modular basis, being able to lose about 90% of their bodies and still survive. They have been able to transform the surface of the Earth, making it suitable to host millions of other life forms, including humans. They account for more than 90% of the biomass of the planet, a fact that should gain them the title of “dominating species” on the Earth. Sternheimer himself states that the melody promoting the synthesis of a protein called ATP6, contained in mitochondria of sunflowers, reproduces the passage corresponding to the very words of the song “O Sole Mio”. How interesting is it that if we picture a scenery of sunflowers enthusiastically stocking energy in their cells as ATP while singing “Oh my sun!” to the brilliant sun of the summer.

“O Sole Mio” is a napoletana or a popular song of Naples. It is said that the song was composed in 1898 by Eduardo di Capua when he was staying in Odessa, in Ukraine, with his father. Odessa faces the Black Sea and is characterized by a mild weather with sunlight all year. Odessa is also a city situated in a rich granary. In the suburbs of the city, an endless field of sunflowers cone into sight. Di Capua probably saw the sunflower field. I would like to dare to imagine that he encountered the melody and the lyrics in his mind inspired by the exchange of the sunflowers that he could hear. Sternheimer and various others are looking at the effects of “proteodies” of sequences derived from organisms beyond plants. The results have been conflicting, with no consensus regarding the benefits, elucidating the complexity of organisms at interplay with their environment. It is therefore cautious to pay close attention to the experimentation, use and abuse of such methodologies for prolonged periods. The importance of intercommunication in nature, and of limiting exposure to therapeutic melodies was explained in an interview with him, paraphrased herein:

For structural reasons it is impossible for a shaman as well as a composer to perceive beyond a narrow window of inspiration of about a dozen notes at most compared to the multitude of created by “proteodies”. There is therefore something completely new. If the listener needs this protein, for health reasons, its melody will seem agreeable; if he doesn't need it, the melody will seem bizarre to him, without being able to explain why. There is always a loss of information, a literally irreproachable simplification, closely linked to the transmission of waves... Subject and object are intimately articulated here. Quantum physics, however, despite its experimental successes which amplify those of classical science, only considers objects. So, the subject is in there or where? There must be one as long as there is a measure, but it is beyond description. This highlights an incompleteness of quantum theory: we find ourselves in a universe from which we are abstracted, and this is obviously impossible because we are part of it. In Judaism, there is a passage from the Jewish Passover that underlines this difference between the wise and the perverse: the wise is the one who includes himself, as a pregnant part, in the universe he studies, on the contrary the perverse considers him outside, avoiding to include oneself. All of this has always struck me, because in this perspective contemporary science tends to be perverse (i.e. corrupt / immoral) since it excludes the subject from the description of the world. There is this immense power of the multinationals in the sector, dominant today, but which until now have not been able to move on to the next stage, namely that of dialoguing with the living, the one in which the patient is truly subject. There would then be an overcoming of the phobia of the external, whether it is a bacterium or something else. For example, if I have a sore throat, I have the laryngotracheitis virus, and if I listen to the proteody that inhibits this virus, I will perceive it as something pleasant and my voice will improve. What I have actually introduced is a dialogue with this virus inside me. When a molecule, a virus, a bacterium is part of a subject, it is actually part of it in the sense that a relationship exists for this belonging. For example, the timbre of the corresponding “proteodies” also depends on this context. As long as the phobia of bacteria, of the virus, of "the other" is not overcome, we are in times of war at all levels and it will always return to be like this, until it will be managed through another method of understanding.