Do plants talk to us? The 1973 book by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, The Secret Life of Plants, described many controversial experiments that seemed to proof plant sentience. A new initiative has found that plants communicate indeed. PLants Employed As SEnsing Devices (PLEASED) comprised of researchers from Italy, England and Spain, affix special sensors to plants that pick up on messages they are conveying regarding changes in temperature, humidity, air pollution, chemicals and other environmental shifts.