No, this is not a story about Ewic Trump.

Engineers at MIT have used nanotechnology to “teach” spinach plants how to send a message when their roots detect specific chemicals in groundwater, Euronews reports.

The plants can detect the chemical signature of nitroaromatics, a material used in explosives like landmines, and then uses carbon nanotubes in the plant to emit a signal that would trigger a message to humans of the presence of the nitroaromatics.

“Plants are very good analytical chemists,” explains Professor Michael Strano who led the research. “They have an extensive root network in the soil, are constantly sampling groundwater, and have a way to self-power the transport of that water up into the leaves.”

Botanists believe that mycelium, a network structure in soil formed by fungi and bacterial colonies act as a communications network for plants, detecting nutrients and toxins in soil and sending out chemicals signals for their species and other plants.

While this experiment allowed spinach to detect an explosive, scientists believe a more advanced version of this technology could help botanists and agricultural engineers identify problems in the groundwater or soil, and then alert farmers or others adjust.

“Plants are very environmentally responsive,” Strano says. “They know that there is going to be a drought long before we do. They can detect small changes in the properties of soil and water potential. If we tap into those chemical signalling pathways, there is a wealth of information to access.”