The last scientific treastise Darwin published was entitled, “The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, With Observations on Their Habits". Despite the title, the book sold more copies than On the Origin of Species during Darwin’s lifetime.
In Darwin’s day the action of earthworms, and the natural history of earthworms was not known. Darwin did experiments to determine what senses earthworms possessed.
In one of these experiments, he put a pot of earthworms near the family piano and struck a note (Darwin even tells us which note). The worms did not respond. He repeated the experiment with the pot placed on the piano, which did engender a response and revealed how earthworms sense sound through vibrations.
No big grants required to do this research, you could reproduce Darwin’s technique in your own home.
Photo credit: http://ed101.bu.edu/StudentDoc/current/ED101sp09/eflukes/
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