2025-01-08
18 分钟Hey, listeners.
Happy New Year for Scientific American Science.
Quickly, this is Rachel Feltman.
Whether you're an avid backpacker, an occasional park stroller,
or someone whose relationship with the great outdoors falls somewhere in the middle,
you probably already know that spending time in nature is a great way to de stress.
But what if leaf peeping could do more than just help you unwind?
Well, according to a recent book, the sights,
sounds and smells of plant life can have serious impacts on our bodies.
My guest today is Kathy Willis, a professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford,
where she also serves as principal of St. Edmund Hall.
She's the author of Good why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing and Touching Plants is Good for Our Health.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Pleasure.
Absolute pleasure.
So you're a professor of biodiversity and a lot of your work focuses on the well being of plants and their ecosystems.
How did you become interested in how plant life impacts human health and wellness as well?
So that's right.
I'm very much someone who's always worked at the sort of interface between looking at vegetation and climate change and very academic.
But then I was working on a big international project.