Crows talking is so pedestrian - apparently mushrooms communicate, too!

[Terabith]

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211926

Edited January 3 by Terabith

[BeachGal]

Yes, they can function as communication systems in nature and could be described as intelligent even. They’re super cool. A fascinating movie about mushrooms if you’re interested is Fantastic Fungi. The mycologist Paul Stamets is in it and he is one of my heroes.

[PeterPan]

I saw that and just gave up with the implications. I really like to eat mushrooms.

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, PeterPan said:

I saw that and just gave up with the implications. I really like to eat mushrooms.

Yeah, I don’t think there’s any way around the fact that we have to eat things with some level of cognition.  Plants seem to have some level of chemical communication too.  It mostly just fills me with awe and makes me be like how on earth would we ever recognize an intelligent species on another planet?

[GailV]

A few years back I read about plants getting drunk*. Pretty much set a new standard for things that make me raise my eyebrows.

 

* I was a Horticulture major in school, and go on nerdy-plant-kicks on a regular basis. This little gem was in a book by Stephen Buhner, but I don't recall which one. I think he was writing about how plants utilize hallucinogens for their own purposes. Hmm, now I'm going to spend the next hour following up on this. THANKS A LOT EVERYONE FOR CRASHING MY PLANS FOR AN INDUSTRIOUS DAY

[Kalmia]

An interesting read is The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wholleben. He talks about how the trees use the fungal networks to communicate (in addition to communicating by releasing chemicals into the air) and to share nutrients with other trees. The natural world is so complex we can barely comprehend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Life-Trees-Communicate_Discoveries-Secret/dp/1771642483/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2O3T77UVPI9FA&keywords=tree+communication&qid=1704296809&sprefix=tree+communication%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-3

[Murphy101]

Star Trek science validated once again. Knew it was going to be bc of mycelium.  
 

Now to find someone that mycelium wants to bond with so we can travel the galaxy in a blink instead of a lifetime. 

[GailV]

Yes, the cool kids are all talking about fungi these days (really, even poets in my social media feeds have been all in on mycology metaphors for the past year or so), but we're still getting new info about how plants communicate:

Video of plants communicating

[Murphy101]

11 minutes ago, GailV said:

Yes, the cool kids are all talking about fungi these days (really, even poets in my social media feeds have been all in on mycology metaphors for the past year or so), but we're still getting new info about how plants communicate:

Video of plants communicating

On a different note, bc of The Happening, movie, I never quite feel as excited as everyone else about it.