![]() ![]() ![]() The team attached electrodes to six of the mushrooms in a cluster and measured the electrical signals they passed between each other. So for the new study, researchers at Tohoku University in Japan conducted field tests on a type of ectomycorrhizal fungi known as Laccaria bicolor, small tan-colored mushrooms that grow on forest floors. Intriguing as it is, scientific study of the phenomenon has been patchy, and often limited to lab tests. ![]() Now researchers in Japan have studied how forest mushrooms communicate with each other, and found that they're mostly chatty when it rains.Įctomycorrhizal fungi don’t just grow as capped stalks above ground – they form vast networks of roots that stretch out underground and absorb key nutrients from the soil to feed themselves and other plants in a symbiotic relationship.īut this mycelial network also seems to be used for communication between stalks and neighboring plants, coordinating growth or warning of insects or disease. Whether they’re hacking the brains of bugs or mining for gold, fungi are craftier than we give them credit for. ![]()
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