Fungi may not think, but they can communicate
Fungi form distinct networks depending on how food sources are arranged. Fungi can be enigmatic organisms. Mushrooms or other structures may be visible above the soil, but beneath.....»»
Saturday Citations: Color vision created demand for colorful animals; observing black hole light echoes; deadlines!
This week, researchers hypothesized that human culture is distinguished from cultures of other species like whales by unique open-endedness—the ability to communicate and understand an infinite number of possibilities. An ancient unicellular organi.....»»
Handling the hype: Researcher seeks to improve science communication
Being a scientist has its challenges. Knowing how to communicate your scientific research in a socially responsible manner can be even more difficult. Thankfully, one researcher at Michigan State University and colleagues at several other universitie.....»»
Fungi may not think, but they can communicate
Fungi form distinct networks depending on how food sources are arranged. Fungi can be enigmatic organisms. Mushrooms or other structures may be visible above the soil, but beneath.....»»
Framework helps autonomous drones rendezvous with sperm whales for better tracking
Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) aims to collect millions to billions of high-quality, highly contextualized vocalizations in order to understand how sperm whales communicate. But finding the whales and knowing where they will surface t.....»»
How to use the new text effects in Messages on iPhone with iOS 18
Apple's iOS 18 software update brought plenty of new features, including to the Messages app. The addition of cool new text effects gives iPhone owners new ways to communicate and they're surprisingly easy to use.Text effects offer the option to anim.....»»
Discovery of new bacterial toxins could be key to fighting infections
Researchers have discovered a new group of bacterial toxins that can kill harmful bacteria and fungi, opening the door to potential new treatments for infections. These toxins, found in over 100,000 microbial genomes, can destroy the cells of bacteri.....»»
Fungi finding: mushroom hunters seek new species and recognition
You can't walk very far through a forest in this part of the United States without stumbling upon a mushroom, an eruption from a vast fungal kingdom that all life depends on, but about which we know very little......»»
Why autumn 2024 is your best chance to see lots of weird and wonderful fungi
The UK and north-western Europe have had a particularly wet 2024. Extreme weather patterns caused by climate change are nothing to celebrate, but there is one group of organisms that will have appreciated all the rain......»»
Through Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Amateur Radio Triumphs When All Else Fails
While some residents in hurricane-impacted areas can't send texts or make calls, amateur radio enthusiasts are helping communicate requests for help and messages between loved ones......»»
Asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs may have led to the invention of "ant agriculture"
The event that wiped out the dinosaurs wasn't all bad. The low-light environment caused by the meteor impact some 66 million years ago favored the spread of fungi that feed on organic matter, which was abundant at the time as plants and animals were.....»»
Ants learned to farm fungi during a mass extinction
Ants learned to work with fungi back in a world where only fungi could thrive. We tend to think of agriculture as a human innovation. But insects beat us to it by millions of year.....»»
Celebrating the fungus among us: How fungi support, restore ecosystems
The word "fungus" may inspire visions of an unwanted growth under your nail or maybe even of a pizza topping before thoughts of a thriving ecosystem......»»
Scientists inject bacteria into fungi to study endosymbiosis
Endosymbiosis is a fascinating biological phenomenon in which an organism lives inside another. Such an unusual relationship is often beneficial for both parties. Even in our bodies, we find remnants of such cohabitation: mitochondria evolved from an.....»»
Bottlenose dolphins "smile" at each other while playing, research shows
Dolphins are extremely playful, but little is known about how they—and other marine mammals—communicate during playtime. New research published October 2 in the journal iScience shows that bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) use the "open mo.....»»
Are plants and fungi trading carbon for nutrients? Not likely, say researchers
Every year, plants move 3.58 gigatons of carbon to mycorrhizal fungi, their underground partners—enough, in fact, that if it were ice, it would cover 112 million NHL hockey rinks. However, a dominant scientific theory explaining that huge transfer.....»»
Pitting good versus bad fungi on sweet corn: A delicate dance
The same defenses that help some varieties of sweet corn resist fungal diseases can also stymie the potency of a beneficial fungus used to kill hungry caterpillar pests, studies by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists suggest. The researche.....»»
Yeast chit-chat: How microorganisms communicate food shortages
To grow and survive, tiny organisms such as yeast must sometimes adapt their nutrient sources in response to changes in the environment. FMI researchers have now found that yeast cells communicate with each other to use less favorable nutrients if th.....»»
Scientists may soon be able to translate the languages plants use to communicate
We may very well be able to translate plant languages soon, scientists claim. While you might think of plants as passive objects just existing on … The post Scientists may soon be able to translate the languages plants use to communicate appear.....»»
Plant pathogen battle: A tomato protein"s dual role in defense and susceptibility
Tomatoes, a staple crop worldwide, are increasingly threatened by biotic stressors such as viruses, fungi, and bacteria, with the effects worsening under climate change. These challenges lead to reduced yields and compromised nutritional quality, hig.....»»
Bioengineers create new substrate to study wood-decomposing enzyme
Researchers want to transform the natural and abundant resource wood into useful materials, and central to that is a molecular machine found in fungi that decomposes the complex raw material into its basic components......»»