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Research shows fungi can actually speak to each other

Professor translates electrical spikes of fungal electrical activity into binary strings similar to those found in central...

Web Desk
April 12, 2022
Aminata Muscaria mushrooms also known as fly agaric, are seen in a wooded area near Bordeaux, southwestern France. — Reuters
Aminata Muscaria mushrooms also known as 'fly agaric', are seen in a wooded area near Bordeaux, southwestern France. — Reuters


Research by a professor found about 50 "words" in fungal language similar to human speech after jabbing them with electrodes and recording their electric activity.

Fungi seem to be using electrical spikes for communication among fungal colonies.

Professor Andrew Adamatzky,a scientist working at the University of the West of England (UWE), published his research in The Royal Society.In his experiment, he recorded electrical impulses and observed the spike patterns.

The Guardian reported that previous studies have hinted towards fungi's ability to share information by using signals.

However, Adamatzky’s research asks the question: is the electrical activity of fungi similar to humans?

The answer might be yes, he said in the research.

He connected the devices to four species of fungi, namelyenoki, split gill, ghost, and caterpillar fungi. He translated the electrical spikes into binary strings. Their big trains of spikes were similar to those found in the central nervous system.

The split gill mushroom seemed to have “said” the most sentences.

“The similarity could be just phenomenological.” the research clarified, however. The researcher does think that the spiking events don’t appear to be random.


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