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Fungi might use an electric "language" to talk to each other, research says

by Jennifer Walter
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Fungi on a branch with electrodes attached
Andrew Adamatzky

Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Life as a mushroom is not lonely.

In the wild, fungi transmit nutrients to trees and each other through an underground network of threads called mycelium.

Shutterstock

Researchers have also known for decades that fungi create faint electrical currents.

Why they do it is still a mystery, but some researchers believe those signals could be a tool for communication in their interconnected world.

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