Fungus

For the 60th year in a row, the Natural History Museum of London has held its Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards. And for the 60th year in a row, the images are guaranteed to stir your love of the natural world and the animals that live in it.

Autonomous vehicles are said to be safer than human drivers – but would you trust a mushroom behind the wheel? A new kind of “biohybrid” robot moves in response to signals from the nervous system of a fungus.

A “bananageddon” might be on the horizon, and not for the first time. But new research could help save our favorite fruit.

Citizen scientists have been key to the discovery of two new species of hallucinogenic fungi, joining the ranks of 140 known types of these psychoactive mushrooms. One even has longstanding roots in traditional healing medicine in mountainous Lesotho.

That we have a huge plastic waste problem is clear, but there are numerous efforts to stem the tide while also cleaning up the mess. Nature is also joining the battle, and scientists have now identified a marine fungus at the plastic-devouring front line.

A healthy frog has been spotted with a mushroom growing out its side, the first time such a growth on live animal tissue has been seen. Not surprisingly, it stunned scientists (and had us wondering if this is how a real-life The Last of Us begins).

When it comes to cleaning up marine oil spills, it's best if you can use a material that separates the oil from the seawater. Scientists have created a new organic membrane which does exactly that, and it's derived from oyster mushrooms.

A study has found that playing a soundscape to a common, plant-promoting fungus found in soil caused it to grow more rapidly than fungi that weren’t exposed to sound. The novel ‘eco-acoustic’ approach has the potential to restore damaged ecosystems.

A fungus that attacked plants 407 million years ago has been unearthed among fossils at the Natural History Museum, making it the oldest of its kind to have ever been found. What's more, its new name celebrates one very famous fungi aficionado.

With nearly half the world's soil degraded, growing enough food to feed a global population is getting increasingly difficult and costly. Scientists believe they've got one solution, and it's already all around us: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Blueberries and other fruits are quite prone to fungi such as gray mold, whereas sunflowers are resistant to them. With that fact in mind, scientists have now used an extract from waste sunflower stems to keep such fruits from molding.

New research reveals the severity of COVID-19 may be linked to a fungal population living in our gut, and perhaps novel antifungal medicines can be developed to treat the disease.