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Comment by marchenko | Hacker News Reader

Between slime molds using reinforcement learning [1], and plants using a fungal "internet" to communicate[2], fungi are interesting models for a lot of network concepts.

[1]https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/the-brai...

[2]http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141111-plants-have-a-hidden...

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They are fascinating organisms, and the more we learn about them the wilder it gets. Radiolab did an episode that talks about some of the things they do. They present evidence that the fungal networks are what make forests possible, and that fungi are not simply passive participants: in woodlands that are affected by global warming, the fungi send nutrients from dying trees that are not well-suited to a changing climate to different species which are better equipped to survive the new temperatures instead of what they normally do, which is to share the nutrients with young trees of the same species. They essentially farm the plants whose nutrients they rely on.

Paul Stamets, mentioned briefly in your second linked article, has been doing research into their antimicrobial and antiviral properties. A handful of soil has hyphae that are only one cell wide, but something in the neighborhood of miles long, so they are constantly being attacked by any number of organisms and have developed advanced countermeasures that we can take advantage of to fight the maladies that plague us. There are treatments available in Japan for cancer, called PSK and PSP, which are essentially extracts from the Turkey Tail mushroom. He has performed studies that show promise in combating colony collapse disorder in bees with extracts from the garden giant fungus, which he discovered by watching bees congregate to lick the mycelium.

Their networking concepts have been refined over millions of years, and are undoubtedly worthwhile to study, but it seems that we are only beginning to scratch the surface of what we can learn from fungi.

http://www.radiolab.org/story/from-tree-to-shining-tree/

I stumbled upon Paul Stamets on Joe Rogan's podcast, which made a nice introduction to the world of funghi- absolutely fascinating and exciting to think of what else we may discover in this field in the coming years! For anyone interested- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ

Yes it’s a good interview. Though it got very weird for a minute when he was asked about the health issues with button mushrooms and refused to answer because he said it put his life in danger. I wanna know what that’s all about!

I was just going to mention this. Highly recommend this podcast episode

I just recently read a great book called The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben [1] that touches on the subject of a social network among trees via a fungal network known as the "Wood Wide Web" [2].

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Life-Trees-Communicate_Discove...

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/world/europe/german-fores...

Came here to post the same. While the book isn't super scientific and lacks certain depth if you already know some things about nature/biology/ecosystems/..., I found it extremely pleasant to read. And it also contains some real 'whaaaat? I had no clue' moments. It's now my go-to book recommendation for anyone who likes e.g. walking in nature but has not much further knowledge of it. And the few people I know who did read it all came back with the same sentiment: 'wow, I have been strolling around in forests half my life but I didn't know half of the things mentioned in this book'.

An interstellar fungal communication/transportation network is also a ongoing plot element in the current season of "Star Trek: Discovery".

Pardon my double post, but it’s worth mentioning that the Star Trek: Discovery people chose to name a character after real-life mycologist Paul Stamets. Naming the character after the person they got a bunch of ideas from is an unusual step for a TV series, and I have to wonder if part of their decision to do so is in the service of spreading not only his ideas but the results of his research, which shows that fungi are a branch of life that ought to be studied much more closely than the scientific community has done in the past. The more people we have looking at them the better!

Smile molds are now considered Protozoa, partially due to behavioral differences in how they eat, but mostly due to genetic testing.

Despite the protists of taxonomists, their colloquial name implies that slime molds would be fungis to have a beer with.

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