Is a fungus intelligent?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2021
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As regular listeners may recall, CrowdScience has delved into the strange world of fungi before, as we dug down into the forest floor to reveal how plants and trees are connected to the vast mycelial network known as the “wood wide web”. But what makes this network possible and how might it have evolved? Fungi are incredibly clever, or at least , it appears that they’re capable of displaying complex behaviour that gives them the appearance of intelligence. In this episode, we speak to fungal ecologist and author of a new book, Merlin Sheldrake, about fungal “brains”, the evolution of magic mushrooms and zombie insects – the astonishing way certain fungi can take over the bodies of ants and wasps in order to sow their spores above ground.
Presented by Anand Jagatia Produced by Rami Tzabar for the BBC World Service.
Image: Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.3 | Hello and welcome to Crowdsines from the BBC World Service and welcome to |
| 0:38.1 | 2021. I'm Anand Jagatia and whatever hopes and expectations you had at the start of 2020 I'm guessing |
| 0:45.0 | that nothing prepared you for what was to come. Here's hoping that the year |
| 0:48.4 | ahead will bring us all some positive changes and a bit of good luck. One thing that I can promise though is plenty more crowd science. |
| 0:56.0 | Every episode of this show starts off as a flash of curiosity |
| 1:00.0 | inside one of your heads. |
| 1:02.0 | And on this episode we're digging into the truly bizarre, |
| 1:05.0 | but utterly fascinating world of fungi. |
| 1:08.0 | Do you have a meaningful problem that needs solving? |
| 1:11.0 | I thought, oh, yeah, I guess I do. There were two psychodelics that were |
| 1:15.0 | discovered serendipitous sleep, |
| 1:17.0 | LST and the silosibin. |
| 1:19.0 | But this one here I think looks a pretty promising bet |
| 1:22.0 | so we gently turn that over we might be able |
| 1:27.1 | to see signs of the network. |
... |
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