languages we have yet to learn

Mycorrhizal fungi form partnerships with plant roots. 

These partnerships connect neighboring plants 

through extensive networks in the soil. 

Much like social networks or neural networks,

 the fungal mycelia of mycorrhizas allow signals 

to be sent between trees in a forest. 

These networks are effectively an information highway,

 with recent studies demonstrating the exchange of nutritional resources,

 defence signals and allelochemicals.

New research by computer scientist Andrew Adamatzky

 at the Unconventional Computing Laboratory of the University

 of the West of England, suggests this ancient kingdom

 has an electrical “language” all of its own – far more complicated 

than anyone previously thought. According to the study,

 fungi might even use “words” to form “sentences”

 to communicate with neighbours.

Despite lacking a nervous system, fungi seem to transmit

 information using electrical impulses across

 thread-like filaments called hyphae. 

The filaments form a thin web called a mycelium 

that links fungal colonies within the soil. These networks

 are remarkably similar to animal nervous systems.

 By measuring the frequency and intensity of the impulses, 

it may be possible to unpick and understand the languages

 used to communicate within and between organisms

 across the kingdoms of life.

~ Amanda Carroll