Animals can adapt quickly to survive adverse environmental conditions. Evidence is mounting to show that plants can, too. A paper publishing in the journal Trends in Plant Science on November 17 details how plants are rapidly adapting to the adverse effects of climate change, and how they are passing down these adaptations to their offspring. Because plants don't have neural networks, their memory is based entirely on cellular, molecular, and biochemical networks. These networks make up what the researchers term somatic memory. "These mechanisms allow plants to recognize the occurrence of a previous environmental condition and to react more promptly...