New in PJ Media:
By far the most delectable news item to come across the transom Thursday was the revelation that mushrooms are magical indeed: the British journal Royal Society Open Science has published, according to the New York Post, a startling new study that claims that mushrooms can “talk to each other — and even have a bountiful vocabulary.” So if you’re looking for someone to lend a sympathetic ear, try some fungi. Hey, if men can be women and women men, and Joe Biden can pretend to be president of the United States, maybe those toadstools that sprung up after last week’s rain will turn out to be marvelous conversationalists.
The study was conducted by Andrew Adamatzky, a computer science professor at the University of the West of England in Bristol. Adamatzky asserted that his team of researchers “found that the ‘fungal language’ exceeds the European languages in morphological complexity.”
Now, I’ve never in my life had a mushroom say a single word to me, either with morphological complexity or morphological simplicity. If you haven’t, either, even if you’ve ingested a few, there are nonetheless plenty of reasons to restrain your skepticism. The Post noted that Adamatzky based his study on an analysis of the “electrical impulses of four species of mushrooms: enoki, split gill, ghost and caterpillar fungus.” He did this by “inserting tiny electrodes into the dirt colonized by the mushroom’s hyphae — the threads that compose the organism’s roots, known as mycelium.”
Human communication can be recorded as a trading of electrical impulses, you see, and for some of us that’s a considerable improvement. In a similar way, Adamatzky “found that the electrical spikes often occurred in clusters, mirroring human vocabularies and employing up to 50 words.” He explained in his study, “We demonstrate that distributions of fungal word lengths match that of human languages.” Split gills are the most articulate of the chatty fungi: the study found that “split gills — a species that resides in rotting wood — generated the most complex ‘sentences’ of the four fungi.”
But what on earth do mushrooms have to talk about? Their favorite salads to land into? What they’ll say to the mashed potato? Whether they belong on burgers or not? What’s gotten into their psychedelic brethren? The examiners of mushroom conversation suggest that they “‘chat’ in order to make their presence known to other members of their cluster — much like wolves howling to alert the pack.” They could also be “trying to tip off fellow fungi, both to potential threats — such as the weather — as well as sources of sustenance.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
Aussie Infidel says
The mycelium of a fungus is essentially its root system, and is used to gather its nutrients. But if they can also “talk to each other” by means of electrical impulses, the mycelium would be the equivalent of an underground communication network.
The Role of Hyphae in Fungi
https://www.mushroomhuntress.com/the-role-of-hyphae-in-fungi/
Other plants like orchids (which I grow), have seeds so small that they have no endoplasm, and depend on the existence of fungi to provide the nutrients for their germination and initial growth. So fungi play a very important symbiotic part in nature.
If the language has such a bountiful vocabulary, I wonder if the researchers will produce a Mushroom to English dictionary? Or do English mushrooms speak a different language to French truffles? Or is it a digital communication process like Morse code? Or is the idea that mushrooms can actually communicate just an imaginative slip of the tongue?
gravenimage says
Quite right, Aussie Infidel. Plants and fungi do indeed “communicate”, and this is a fascinating subject. The idea that this is a “language” in any cognitive sense is of course absurd, though.
Gershom says
Robert,
I have followed your deeply serious and important writings, for years.
I never knew, however, that you had such a lighter side. In fact, I would say you are definitely a Fun-guy! ?
gravenimage says
Actually, Robert Spencer often evinces a wry sense of humor.
mgoldberg says
Yes…. his humor is certainly fungible
gravenimage says
🙂
Siddi Nasrani says
I know that I was right all along, many years ago whilst backpacking in Bali, I came across a notice board in the countryside that said ” Magic Mushrooms for SALE ”
Well I could not resist, after my purchase I made some tea, then half a hour later
I got into conversation with this Fungi & was laughing all night long with his jokes.
john smith says
Siddi,
Many years ago when I was backpacking I met people that had been to Bali, they told me a similar to yours, on how they got smashed on mushrooms.
I live in the countryside and have been an avid mushroom hunter since I was a child. I come across magic mushrooms every year and when I was younger I also tried them, so I know exactly were your coming from.
Don McKellar says
I’m afraid I’m going to have to read that the results have been duplicated and confirmed a few times before I buy thiis — but it sounds fascinating to consider. Plant communication really challenges concepts like brains being required. It challenges a lot of things, all jokes aside.
gravenimage says
At Last, Some Good News: Mushrooms Can Talk!
…………………..
OK, there just *has to be* a good “magic mushroom” joke here, I just can’t think of it–probably because I’m not high…
More:
The study was conducted by Andrew Adamatzky, a computer science professor at the University of the West of England in Bristol. Adamatzky asserted that his team of researchers “found that the ‘fungal language’ exceeds the European languages in morphological complexity.”
…………………..
Well, of course! Notice this applies to “European languages”, and not, say, Cantonese or Urdu or Igbo…
mgoldberg says
The dept’s of diversity, inclusion and equity will shortly be marching against this bigotry. The diminishing of value of other vegetables, will necessitate reeducation courses so that people will no longer offend the inhabitants of their salad bowls. The standards for communication will have to be lowered so that tomatoes, potatos, rhubarb and carrots will no longe feel the inequity caused by this bigotry.