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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.

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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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