Many mushrooms glow in the dark and no one really knows exactly why.
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Many mushrooms glow in the dark and no one really knows exactly why.
If you were looking for something mysterious in this world to wonder about and try to solve there is that.
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Many mushrooms glow in the dark and no one really knows exactly why.
If you were looking for something mysterious in this world to wonder about and try to solve there is that.
@futurebird
is the glow from the mushrooms or from some weird microbe that lives on them? -
Many mushrooms glow in the dark and no one really knows exactly why.
If you were looking for something mysterious in this world to wonder about and try to solve there is that.
@futurebird When the time comes they will write messages across continents that can be read at night by the aliens.
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@futurebird
is the glow from the mushrooms or from some weird microbe that lives on them?It's the mushrooms themselves. It could be a simple by product of the way they process wood. But it could also be for insects, to attract them to disperse spores. Except... "insects dispersing spores" isn't really a huge thing generally.
It's also probably multiple reasons.
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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@futurebird
is the glow from the mushrooms or from some weird microbe that lives on them?Here is what gave me chills: some mushrooms glow, but not bright enough for the human eye to notice... but if you use a photon detector it's there. So we don't really even know how many mushrooms are ... communicating? Processing chemicals? signaling aliens? in this way.
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Here is what gave me chills: some mushrooms glow, but not bright enough for the human eye to notice... but if you use a photon detector it's there. So we don't really even know how many mushrooms are ... communicating? Processing chemicals? signaling aliens? in this way.
@futurebird
thank you, that's very interesting, I'm finally looking at wikipedia now. And apparently they also glow by way of luciferin and luciferase the same chemicals lightning bugs use. It's remarkable how widespread that is. wikipedia also has the wood hypothesis you mentioned; so maybe they don't really need the glow, they just need to use up dangerous oxygens. : )on the other hand, in biology there's hardly ever just one reason things happen, so maybe they are using the glow anyway.
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@futurebird
thank you, that's very interesting, I'm finally looking at wikipedia now. And apparently they also glow by way of luciferin and luciferase the same chemicals lightning bugs use. It's remarkable how widespread that is. wikipedia also has the wood hypothesis you mentioned; so maybe they don't really need the glow, they just need to use up dangerous oxygens. : )on the other hand, in biology there's hardly ever just one reason things happen, so maybe they are using the glow anyway.
@futurebird
hm, reading up on luciferin, and it turns out it's not a specific single chemical, it's a generic term for many unrelated chemicals, similar only in that they produce light and that they require molecular oxygen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciferinso, contrary to my earlier remark, it's not the same chemicals as in fireflies.
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@futurebird
hm, reading up on luciferin, and it turns out it's not a specific single chemical, it's a generic term for many unrelated chemicals, similar only in that they produce light and that they require molecular oxygen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciferinso, contrary to my earlier remark, it's not the same chemicals as in fireflies.
That is a *metal* name for a molecule!
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Many mushrooms glow in the dark and no one really knows exactly why.
If you were looking for something mysterious in this world to wonder about and try to solve there is that.
@futurebird Courtship display or thermal regulation. Or maybe I've watched too many paleontology videos.
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@futurebird Courtship display or thermal regulation. Or maybe I've watched too many paleontology videos.
courtship???? Do... could ... how could a fungi even do that???
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Many mushrooms glow in the dark and no one really knows exactly why.
If you were looking for something mysterious in this world to wonder about and try to solve there is that.
@futurebird does it need a solution though? Can it not just remain mysterious and wonderful?
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@futurebird does it need a solution though? Can it not just remain mysterious and wonderful?
I've found that when a mystery is "solved" it only makes a dozen more.
