Appreciation: Fungal language?

Discussion in 'Fungi, Lichens and Slime Molds' started by togata57, Apr 5, 2022.

  1. togata57

    togata57 Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    Mathematical analysis of the electrical signals fungi seemingly send to one another has identified patterns that bear a striking structural similarity to human speech.

    The research, published in
    Royal Society Open Science, found that these spikes often clustered into trains of activity, resembling vocabularies of up to 50 words, and that the distribution of these “fungal word lengths” closely matched those of human languages.

    The most likely reasons for these waves of electrical activity are to maintain the fungi’s integrity – analogous to wolves howling to maintain the integrity of the pack – or to report newly discovered sources of attractants and repellants to other parts of their mycelia, Adamtzky suggested.

    Whatever these “spiking events” represent, they do not appear to be random, he added.


    Fungi seeks similar: scientist investigates mushroom ‘chat’
     
    allelopath, Acerholic and Frog like this.
  2. Frog

    Frog Generous Contributor Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Wild!
     
  3. togata57

    togata57 Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    What a lovely photo at beginning of this article! (Schizophyllum...?)

    I was struck by the resemblance between those fluffy caps and that worn by Dua Lipa during a performance on Saturday Night Live:
    https://twitter.com/dualipanoticia/status/1340539661178073090

    Mother Nature: the first, and best, designer!
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2022
    wcutler likes this.
  4. Acerholic

    Acerholic Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society

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    Couldn't agree more
     

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