Plants don’t have brains. So why are they so smart?

Science writer Zoë Schlanger has been tracking the remarkable new science of plant intelligence. Plants don’t have brains, but they exhibit many of the same behaviors as animals with nervous systems, including decision-making and elaborate defenses against predators. And there’s a lively debate over whether plants are conscious. Schlanger is a staff writer at The Atlantic and author of “The Light Eaters.”