Research suggests that fungi can form sentences

Research by scientist Andrew Adamatzky, from the University of the West of England, suggests the existence of electrical language used by mushrooms. This is a much more complex system than previously assumed, and can reach - in some species - a total of 50 different "words". These words, according to the study, can be used to form sentences and convey complex information to neighbors.

Note that communication itself is not new. In issue number 12 of Cultivar Grandes Culturas magazine (in 2000), we reported on the functioning of the defense mechanism used by plants to attract natural enemies of pests. At the time, due to the technology available, we were unable to obtain photographs to demonstrate the issue. We use drawings and playful resources.

Now the question differs. Adamatzky's research goes beyond that, as it suggests the possibility of transmitting more complex information. In the current case, electrical potential peaks -- impulses -- were measured. Despite not having a nervous system, fungi appear to transmit information using filaments called hyphae. These filaments form a thin web called mycelium, which connects colonies together through the soil. There is a similarity between these networks and the nervous system of animals. In the research, the frequency and intensity of the impulses were measured.

He explains: "We adopt a structure of encoding information into spikes in the neural system and assume that information in fungal electrical communication is encoded into impulses. Therefore, we try to discover the main linguistic phenomena of the proposed fungal language. We find that the distributions of lengths , measured at multiple peaks, follows the distribution of word lengths in human languages. We found that the size of the fungal lexicon can be up to 50 words; however, the core lexicon of the most commonly used words does not exceed 15 to 20 words."

Links

1. Click here to read the PDF of issue 12 from Cultivar Grandes Culturas magazine;

2. Click here to read the research by Andrew Adamatzky.

Cultivating Great Crops 12