[samatman]

I'm pretty sure (having read the same two paragraphs as anyone else) that the pulses were caused artificially in the experiment. The pulses let them demonstrate that the spores can passively soak up potassium to a certain threshold, then activate. The interesting part being that the process doesn't cost the spore energy.

This is more like measurement than counting, imho. Something of an osmotic thermostat, ionostat perhaps.