The next time you find yourself lulled by the patter of rain outside your window, think how that same sprinkle might sound if you were a tiny seed planted directly below a free-falling droplet. Would you still be similarly soothed? In fact, MIT engineers have found the opposite to be the case: Some seeds may come alive to the sound of rain. In experiments with rice seeds, the team found that the sound of falling droplets effectively shook the seeds out of a dormant state, stimulating them to germinate at a faster rate compared with seeds that were not exposed to the same sound vibrations. The team’s findings, which are published today in the journal Scientific Reports , are the first direct evidence that plant seeds and seedlings can sense sounds in nature. Their experiments involved rice seeds that they submerged in shallow water. Rice can germinate in both soil and shallow water. The researchers suspect that many similar seed types may also respond to the sound of rain.…