New research highlights a rare and intelligent fungus that appears to be able to tell different shapes from each other.
Researchers have uncovered a rare and intelligent fungus. The fungus is called Phanerochaete velutina, and while it isn’t overly intelligent—it won’t be taking over the world anytime soon like the fungus in The Last of Us—it still shows signs of recognizing shapes and even being able to communicate about its surroundings with the rest of its fungal network. The researchers who made the discovery highlight their findings in a paper published in the journal Funal Ecology.
Instead of just spreading out from a central point, they were able to change how they spread out to fit the shape more effectively. This suggests a rudimentary level of intelligence is found within P. velutina. According to the paper, when the fungi were placed in a circle arrangement of blocks, they were able to figure out where the blocks were and then pass that information to the rest of the network, as they never moved to the center of the circle.
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