fungi

Fungi are everywhere but they are easy to miss. They are inside you and around you. They sustain you and all that you depend on. As you read these words, fungi are changing the way that life happens, as they have done for more than a billion years. They are eating rock, making soil, digesting pollutants, nourishing and killing plants, surviving in ... See more

The “loss of a sense of self-identity, delusions of self-identity and experiences of ‘alien control,’ ” observed an elder statesman in the field of microbiome research, are all potential symptoms of mental illness. It made my head spin to think of how many ideas had to be revisited, not least our culturally treasured notions of identity, autonomy, ... See more

Mycelium is polyphony in bodily form… There is no main voice. There is no lead tune. There is no central planning. Nonetheless, a form emerges.

A growing number of studies have made a link between animal behavior and the trillions of bacteria and fungi that live in their guts, many of which produce chemicals that influence animal nervous systems. The interaction between gut microbes and brains—the “microbiome-gut-brain axis”—is far-reaching enough to have birthed a new field: neuromicrobio... See more

No single neuronal circuit “knows” what’s going on any more than a single termite “knows” the structure of the mound, but large numbers of neurons can build a network from which surprising phenomenons can emerge. In this view, complex behaviors—including minds and nuanced textures of lived, conscious experience—arise out of complex networks of neur... See more

Once infected by the fungus, ants are stripped of their instinctive fear of heights, leave the relative safety of their nests, and climb up the nearest plant — a syndrome known as “summit disease.” In due course the fungus forces the ant to clamp its jaws around the plant in a “death grip.” Mycelium grows from the ant’s feet and stitches them to th... See more

It is likely that fungi have been manipulating animal minds for much of the time that there have been minds to manipulate.

Fungi and algae make relationships under so many circumstances. One critical condition for symbiotic relationship = “Each partner had to be able to do something the other couldn’t achieve on its own. The identity of the partners didn’t matter so much as it’s ecological fit” They are singing a metabolic song neither could sing on their own