0:00

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0:28

Hi I'm Lindsay and I'm

0:30

Marshall welcome to tumble the show where we explore

0:32

stories of science discovery. Today

0:35

we're talking about fungi. Fun guy?

0:37

You mean guys

0:40

like me? Fun ones? No

0:43

I'm talking about fun-gus.

0:45

We're about to discover the mysteries

0:48

of how fungi live with

0:50

help from the largest collection of mushrooms

0:53

in the world. Today's question

0:55

comes from tumble listener Alice.

0:58

Do

1:07

fungi breathe? Like do

1:09

fungi breathe in and out like we do?

1:11

Like just

1:14

center yourself. You

1:17

think they're just like constantly meditating? No I

1:19

think Alice's question

1:22

is do fungi need oxygen

1:25

to live and she has an idea of

1:27

how scientists might find out.

1:29

I think scientists could

1:32

find out by putting some

1:34

mushrooms on like a rotting

1:36

wall or something in a space

1:38

without oxygen and see if

1:40

they die. That's that's a

1:42

that's a pretty good experiment but I don't think

1:44

the fungi would enjoy it. Well

1:47

let's ask our listeners do you

1:49

think fungi would breathe and how

1:51

would scientists find out? Take

1:53

a moment to think about it because we're

1:56

about to find out about the fungus

1:59

among us. To

2:08

find an answer for Alice, I called

2:10

up Lee Davis. He's

2:12

responsible for the largest collection

2:14

of fungus

2:15

in the world. My name is

2:18

Lee Davis. I'm the collection manager

2:20

of the Fungarium at Kew Gardens.

2:22

Is he also a fun guy like

2:25

me? I've already made

2:27

that joke and Lee's definitely

2:29

heard it before. When I started,

2:31

I think I was getting, oh, you must be a fun guy

2:34

at least three times a week for the first six

2:36

months. I think I got sick of that one. I'm

2:38

sorry, but you know, we're already two fun

2:41

guy puns into this episode

2:43

and we're definitely going to do more.

2:45

I hope Lee will

2:47

understand. And he did

2:49

give me an alternative fun

2:51

guy pun.

2:52

There's not much room in here if a room

2:55

is busy. That's pretty good.

2:57

It's definitely like a little

2:59

bit of a deeper cut.

3:00

Well, you might say there's spore

3:03

where that came

3:03

from. Oh, good

3:06

one. So I know there's probably

3:08

more to fungi than making puns, although

3:11

I'm sure that could be the whole show. Definitely.

3:15

It seems like we should at least try to answer

3:17

Alice's question if there's

3:20

mushroom left.

3:22

We're definitely going to get to Alice's

3:24

question. But first, let's take

3:26

a little tour of the fungarium and

3:28

get to know our guide.

3:30

Alright, let's do it.

3:32

So Lee didn't start out as

3:34

a fungi scientist or mycologist,

3:37

as they're called. He was actually

3:39

a paleontologist.

3:40

I'm a very bad paleontologist.

3:43

I think dinosaurs are boring. Yeah, like, you know, one

3:45

bone. Oh, look, it's got big teeth. Wow.

3:48

Whoa, there. Dinosaurs? Boring?

3:51

I don't know. Should we just end the episode

3:53

right now? No. Look,

3:58

we just need to apologize for that.

3:59

and move on from this, Marshall. Sorry

4:03

to the dinosaur fans. We

4:05

do not

4:06

agree with Lee's views. Just want

4:08

to make clear that the views held by our guests

4:10

do not reflect the views of the Makers of Tumble Science

4:12

podcast for kids or any of our sponsors.

4:15

We think dinosaurs

4:18

are cool. So anyway,

4:20

but how did a paleontologist with a

4:22

weird fringe view end up studying fungi?

4:26

Lee's

4:26

job is really looking after

4:29

collections of specimens and museums

4:31

as a curator. So

4:34

over his career, he's moved from

4:36

collections of fossils to plants

4:39

to now fungi.

4:40

And it turns out it's the best thing ever because these are that

4:42

fungi are far cooler than plants or

4:45

dinosaurs. Wow, he's really throwing

4:47

plants in there too. Sorry, plant lovers.

4:50

I know this is

4:52

extreme, but try not to hold it against

4:54

Lee. He's just so

4:56

in love with his job at the Fungarium.

4:59

It's a bit like a warehouse

5:01

of large green boxes,

5:04

each filled with dried mushrooms.

5:07

And it's kept nice and cruel for this. A

5:09

little nasty insect getting in and eat up their way through

5:11

the collection. And it's floor to ceiling with these

5:13

really nice fabric covered green

5:15

boxes.

5:17

So is that so that nothing gets mushy

5:20

in the room? In the

5:22

mushy room?

5:24

There are over 13,000 of these

5:26

green boxes.

5:29

And Lee has to keep tric

5:31

of all of them.

5:32

I would say I'm like

5:35

a librarian of mushrooms. I'm

5:37

one of the people who looks after the 1.3

5:40

million dried mushroom specimens

5:42

that are used for science research by

5:44

scientists all over the world. That's

5:46

really like a lot of mushrooms in a room. In

5:49

a lot of boxes. I could open

5:52

one box every day for the next 20

5:54

years, if I

5:56

wanted to. I think there's enough boxes here to do at least one

5:58

a day for 20 years.

5:59

So

6:00

like every day he could do a new unboxing

6:03

video. Ooh, what do we have here?

6:05

And then he plays with the mushrooms and makes them talk to each

6:07

other. I'll watch that.

6:10

Me too. But so why

6:12

do we need all these boxes of mushrooms? Well,

6:15

they help scientists understand

6:17

fungi, what makes them unique

6:20

and how they're related

6:21

to each other.

6:23

So building a family tree of all the

6:25

different fungi, because we don't

6:27

know. Probably there are

6:29

two or three million species of fungi in

6:31

the world. And we've barely

6:33

scratched the surface. Well, that's a lot

6:36

of species. Yes, and researchers

6:39

are looking for more. Most

6:41

of it is focused around understanding what fungi

6:43

are out there. They've got looking for new species.

6:46

Fung spores. Fung

6:49

spores? Fung spores.

6:52

That's two for one, really. There we go.

6:55

So researchers

6:58

collect new specimens to add

7:00

to the fungiium's collection. And

7:02

in turn, they ask for existing

7:05

specimens to study and compare.

7:08

We regularly send dried

7:10

specimens all over the world for people to study.

7:13

So what do people do with all these dried mushrooms?

7:16

I assume they just start making soup. A

7:19

lot of what people do these days and researchers

7:21

do these days is they extract the

7:23

DNA from them.

7:24

DNA is the genetic code

7:26

that's in the cell of every living

7:29

thing on Earth. And getting it out

7:31

of a fungus is a little like preparing

7:34

a recipe.

7:35

You take a little piece of the mushroom, you

7:38

grind it up in laboratory, you add

7:40

different chemicals, and you pull all the DNA

7:42

out of it. And then you sequence

7:44

that DNA. You're a little butter,

7:46

and you really get that umami

7:48

flavor.

7:49

Hold

7:51

the butter, because we're doing science. And

7:54

the DNA is useful, if

7:56

not tasty.

7:56

It gives you like a fingerprint.

8:00

of that species and tells

8:02

you what makes it unique.

8:04

So every spore is special.

8:05

Yes. And after seeing how each

8:08

species is different, scientists

8:10

look for their similarities.

8:12

You can compare all those fingerprints between lots

8:14

of different species, and you can understand how they're

8:17

related to one another.

8:18

So that's how they build the family tree, one

8:20

little ground-up mushroom at a time. But

8:23

I have a question. Is the mushroom the fungus

8:25

part, or is that something different?

8:27

Well, the mushroom is actually just one

8:30

part of what makes a fungus a fungus.

8:33

The mushroom is like the flower or

8:35

the fruit of a tree. In a fungus, a mushroom

8:38

is produced to produce spores, which go off and grow

8:40

into new mycelium and

8:42

a new fungus.

8:43

In other words, mushrooms are for

8:46

reproducing, and they happen to

8:48

be the best part of the fungi to

8:50

collect. It really dries out

8:52

nice.

8:53

So what's the other thing that Lee mentioned,

8:56

the mycelium?

8:58

So this is the bit that's underground that you don't

9:00

see. That's kind of like the leaves,

9:02

the branches, the trunk, and the roots of a tree.

9:05

It's a bit that does all the work.

9:06

The mycelium looks like lots

9:09

of little threads, or even fuzz.

9:12

If you've ever looked at moldy food

9:14

that appears to be growing something, that's

9:17

the mycelium. It's the living,

9:19

breathing part of the fungus. And

9:22

the key to answering Alice's

9:23

question, is to fungi breathe.

9:26

How's that the key?

9:28

I'll let Lee explain.

9:29

So in humans, we have lungs. We breathe

9:32

to fill our lungs with air so that our

9:34

bodies can absorb oxygen out of the air,

9:37

so take it into our blood.

9:39

For humans, breathing oxygen helps

9:41

us turn our food into energy

9:43

that we use to live.

9:45

Fungi also need oxygen.

9:47

And they get oxygen directly

9:50

through the mycelium.

9:51

Because it's so small, they're able

9:54

to just absorb oxygen into

9:57

their cells. They don't need lungs.

9:59

So in that sense, they don't breathe

10:02

like us because they can just absorb

10:04

the oxygen through their tissues.

10:06

So if you put a fungus on a log in a place

10:09

with no oxygen, it would die.

10:11

Yes, it would. And Lee said

10:13

Alice's idea of how scientists

10:16

find out was right.

10:18

It's a really simple, really

10:20

elegant and very neat way

10:22

of testing that out. You could do that

10:24

at home almost. Good thinking,

10:27

Alice. Lee

10:28

says that fungi evolved

10:30

to use oxygen just like

10:32

plants and animals did. And

10:34

they played a really important role

10:37

in making Earth a livable planet.

10:39

I suppose if you think that plants made the

10:41

atmosphere, fungi made the

10:44

ground and the soil and the terrestrial

10:46

environment.

10:48

Well, that's no small job.

10:49

No kidding. Fungi made

10:52

it possible for plants and animals

10:54

to live on land.

10:55

Before plants moved on to land, there

10:58

was no soil. It would have been sort of dry,

11:00

rocky, sandy density material.

11:03

But because fungi had already got there and

11:05

were on land, they were bolting down the organic

11:07

litter and making soils for

11:10

plants to get established in and to literally

11:12

take root. Man, I had

11:15

no idea that fungus was basically the reason that

11:17

we're here.

11:18

It still is.

11:20

Fungi are the foundation that

11:22

any ecosystem is

11:24

based upon.

11:25

There's two big groups of fungi

11:28

that play essential roles in nature.

11:30

The

11:31

vast majority of fungi I'd say that we

11:33

might come across if we're out and about somewhere, they're

11:36

what we call sap probes. So they

11:38

decompose plant material.

11:41

So these are the ones that break things down, like basically

11:43

rot dead stuff.

11:45

Yeah, they help nutrients return

11:47

back to the Earth. It's the circle

11:49

of life. And another type,

11:52

help plants live.

11:54

The second big group of important fungi

11:56

are things that we call mycorrhizal fungi.

11:58

They live in what we call a mucus.

11:59

mutualistic relationship with kids.

12:02

What's a mutualistic relationship?

12:05

It's like having a best friend

12:07

and you're always helping each other out.

12:09

Is that really what

12:12

it is? It means

12:13

that both the organisms work

12:15

together in a way that benefits them.

12:18

In this case, a plant and a fungus.

12:20

So they live together in the soil and they

12:23

feed each other and support each other. And

12:25

about 95% of all plants need

12:28

to have a mycorrhizal

12:30

partner in order to thrive and to survive.

12:33

95% of plants need

12:35

a fungus to live? That's like almost

12:37

all of them.

12:38

Exactly. If fungi

12:40

didn't

12:40

exist, Earth would be a very

12:43

different place. So most plants

12:45

would get sick and die and when they did

12:47

die, they wouldn't decompose, they wouldn't

12:49

rock down, and it would just build up and we'd be

12:52

up to our necks and dead plant material. And

12:54

ecosystems would slowly start to collapse.

12:57

I'm certainly a lot more thankful for fungus than I've

12:59

ever been before. Maybe it's okay

13:02

that some of them end up in my feed. Ew.

13:06

Well, so

13:08

now that we have the fundamentals

13:11

of fungus, oh boy. it's

13:13

time to discover some wonderful and

13:16

weird new fungi

13:17

species, right after this

13:19

quick break.

13:23

We're back. So remember

13:25

how Lee said that we've barely scratched

13:28

the surface of all the fungus? Among

13:30

us?

13:31

Yeah, we're just like right at the top of the

13:33

toadstool there.

13:34

And now we know there's much more

13:36

fungus under the surface. And

13:39

that's what excites Lee about fungi,

13:41

the possibility of infinite

13:44

discovery.

13:44

There's a million species

13:46

to find and it's fairly easy to find

13:48

new species. There are big areas of the planet

13:50

we've never really got exploring looking for

13:53

fungi. There's

13:53

a few countries at the top of Lee's

13:56

mushroom hunting list. One

13:58

of those countries is Madagascar.

13:59

Madagascar is an island

14:02

country off the southeastern coast

14:05

of Africa. And it's also a movie.

14:08

Yes. It's also known for being

14:10

a hotspot of biodiversity,

14:13

meaning there's a lot of unique species

14:15

there. So Lee takes groups

14:18

of students to the country every

14:19

year to search for new species.

14:23

Everything we're finding

14:24

is potentially new species. Everything?

14:27

Like everything? Yes. Everything.

14:30

One

14:33

kind of mushroom that Lee's really interested

14:35

in finding are called Amanitas.

14:38

Amanitas should be fairly familiar. They're

14:41

the ones that are red with white dots. They're

14:43

the ones you see in books and pictures and

14:45

video games.

14:46

Oh yeah, it's like the Super Mario Brothers

14:48

mushroom.

14:49

Yes. So you can say

14:51

that there's a researcher who's exploring

14:54

the Mushroom Kingdom of Madagascar.

14:57

He's trying to understand what

14:59

species of Amanita are in Madagascar

15:01

because we don't know.

15:02

Wait, so it's just like we don't know what's there.

15:04

So people are just going and being like, oh, there's

15:06

one.

15:07

Yeah, it sounds incredible.

15:10

And that's not all. Because if

15:12

Amanitas are the classic

15:14

fairy tale mushroom, there's also the

15:17

horror

15:17

story mushrooms. These

15:19

are a group of fungi

15:22

that we tend to call zombie fungi. Zombie

15:24

fungi, do they eat brains?

15:27

They infect insects.

15:29

And I assume eat their brains. They turn

15:31

them into zombies and they eat them from the inside.

15:34

Oh man. Sometimes

15:37

kids, nature isn't so nice. It's

15:40

rough.

15:41

It's a fungi eat insect

15:43

world out there, you know? I guess so.

15:46

But to leave, what

15:48

zombie fungi do and how

15:50

they do it is fascinating.

15:53

Take, for example, a potential new

15:56

species he found on a moth.

15:59

I can't throw my seeds. Um,

16:03

okay. I'm a little afraid

16:05

to ask what it does.

16:06

Don't worry, I asked

16:08

for you. With the moth it's quite

16:10

nice, well, it's relatively nice,

16:12

it doesn't really control its behavior.

16:15

Wait, fungi can control insect behavior?

16:17

Yes, that's where they get the

16:20

name zombie fungi from. The

16:22

fungus turns its host, the

16:24

insect, into a zombie to

16:27

do its bidding. And this moth

16:29

fungus finds itself a nice

16:31

mothy meal and just grows

16:33

from there. Then you can find

16:35

these big moths the size of your hand

16:37

almost, attached to a rock

16:39

or a wooden tree to turn it all into white,

16:42

little white mushrooms growing out of their body.

16:44

It's beautiful.

16:46

I do think Lee's definition of beautiful

16:48

in mind might be a little different, but,

16:51

you know, I guess we eat mushrooms, so what's

16:54

the difference?

16:55

Well, interestingly, Lee does

16:57

not like eating mushrooms.

16:59

I've never liked them. They taste like it's that weird,

17:02

slimy, rubbery, it's

17:04

that horrible texture, I don't like them.

17:05

So it's a taste thing, not a moral thing.

17:08

You mean a moral thing?

17:11

Like the type of mushroom?

17:13

Oh boy. I

17:16

just appreciate them in a different way, I suppose. I'll

17:19

see a nice mushroom, I'll think that's beautiful, I

17:21

can collect them, I can keep it

17:23

for 200 years in the fungi area, rather

17:25

than, oh that's beautiful, I bet

17:27

that'll be really nice fried with some garlic

17:29

and butter. To each their own mushroomy

17:32

way.

17:33

Whether the mushrooms are headed

17:35

for the kitchen or the shelf, millions

17:38

of people around the world collect them,

17:41

and you can too.

17:43

Collecting fungi and picking them is fairly

17:45

safe, there are very few fungi that are dangerous

17:48

just to touch and pick up. Hopefully

17:50

there are very few that are dangerous just to touch,

17:53

I guess they won't bite you.

17:54

Yeah, finding a strange

17:56

fungus is just the same as

17:58

what you'll do when you find a...

17:59

an unfamiliar plant or seed. You

18:02

could carefully collect it, but you

18:04

definitely shouldn't put it

18:05

in your mouth. Never eat anything you

18:07

find because you don't know what

18:10

it is you found. And there are lots of

18:12

fungi that can make you very, very ill if

18:14

you get it wrong. That seems like great advice

18:16

just in general. Like, don't put

18:19

things in your mouth, kids. Science.

18:21

Don't put it in your mouth. The key thing is, get

18:23

a nice book to help you identify them, get

18:25

out there and look for them, and then

18:28

see if you can identify what

18:30

they are. You know, I like to take pictures of mushrooms

18:33

and plants and bugs and stuff and then use the

18:35

app

18:35

iNaturalist to help identify them. Yes,

18:38

and some

18:39

fungus are so beautiful

18:42

and cool. And if you find something

18:44

really unusual, you can let the fungarium

18:46

know. We

18:47

will be there, busy

18:49

with his boxes.

18:51

Sometimes I'm looking for something and I find something

18:53

I've never seen before.

18:54

There's a continual sense of discovery

18:57

here. Yeah.

18:59

It's because we're... Is it good

19:01

fun-gus?

19:05

So funny.

19:13

You

19:18

can

19:18

pick and dry wild mushrooms

19:20

to start your own fungarium, or

19:23

even grow your

19:23

own mushrooms. They make really

19:25

cool kits and it's something I've always

19:28

wanted

19:28

to do. Let us know if you find some

19:30

cool mushrooms, or get even more curious

19:32

about the fungus among us. Just email

19:34

us at paulpodcast at gmail dot com

19:37

to show us your photos or send us your questions.

19:42

Thanks to Lee Davis, collection manager

19:44

of the fungarium in Kew Gardens

19:46

in London, England.

19:48

Special thanks to Alice for her excellent

19:51

question. Lee's interview is a joy

19:53

to listen to, and you can learn more about the science

19:55

and culture of fungi in our bonus interview

19:58

episode, available when you support us on Pinterest.

19:59

for just $1 or more a month

20:02

on patreon.com slash totalpodcast

20:04

or through our Spotify subscription

20:06

stream. We have more resources

20:08

to learn about

20:10

Lea, the fungarium, and

20:12

fungi or fungi on the

20:14

blog on our website, sciencepodcastsforkids.com.

20:18

Sarah Roberson-Lentz is our editor

20:20

and designed the episode art. Elliot

20:22

Hajjaj is our production assistant.

20:24

Gary Calhoun-James engineered

20:27

and mixed this episode. I'm Lindsay

20:29

Patterson and I wrote this

20:31

episode. And I'm Marshall Escamilla

20:33

and I made all of the music and sound design

20:36

for this episode. Tumble is a production

20:38

of Tumble Media. Thanks for listening

20:40

and stay tuned for more stories of

20:42

science discovery.

20:47

This episode of Tumble is brought to you with support

20:49

from KiwiCo. As a parent

20:51

and a teacher, I always love it when something

20:53

can really capture my kids' interests and get

20:55

them super into something that they never

20:58

knew that they would be into before. A

21:00

few weeks ago, KiwiCo sent us a crate

21:02

with an activity where we mixed

21:04

acids and bases together to make awesome

21:06

colors and awesome works of art. It

21:09

was super fizzy and super fun and

21:11

everyone could do it, even the four-year-old. That's

21:14

really the great thing about KiwiCo. The boxes

21:16

that they send you

21:17

are designed by a team of educators, makers,

21:19

engineers, and rocket scientists who

21:21

brainstorm hundreds of ideas to create the

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Tumble.

22:01

Tumble is brought to you with support from Spotify for

22:03

Podcasters. If you're so inspired

22:05

by me and Lindsay that you want to make a podcast of

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the Spotify for Podcasters app. Hi,

22:33

I'm Lindsay. And I'm Marshall.

22:37

Welcome to Tumble, the

22:39

show where we explore stories of science discovery.

22:42

Today we're talking about fungi.

22:45

Fun guy? You mean guys

22:47

like me? Fun ones?

22:49

No, I'm

22:51

talking about fun-gus. Gus, we're

22:53

about to discover the mysteries of

22:55

how fungi live with help

22:58

from the largest collection of mushrooms

23:01

in the world.

23:10

Today's question comes from Tumble listener

23:13

Alice. Do fungi breathe?

23:16

Like do fungi breathe in and

23:18

out like we do? Like, center

23:22

yourself. You

23:25

think they're just like constantly meditating? No,

23:28

I think

23:28

Alice's question is, do

23:31

fungi need oxygen to

23:33

live? And she has an idea of how

23:35

scientists might find out.

23:37

I think scientists could

23:39

find out by putting some

23:42

mushrooms on like a rotting

23:44

wall or something

23:45

in a space without oxygen

23:47

and see if they die. That's

23:50

a pretty good experiment, but I don't think the fungi

23:52

would enjoy it. Well, let's

23:55

ask our listeners. Do you think

23:57

fungi would

23:58

breathe? And how would scientists...

23:59

Find out. Take a moment to think

24:02

about it because we're about to find

24:04

out about the

24:05

fungus.

24:15

Find an answer for Alice. I called

24:18

up Lee Davis. He's responsible

24:20

for the largest collection of fungus

24:23

in the world. My

24:24

name is Lee Davis. I'm the collection

24:27

manager of the Fungarium at Kew

24:29

Gardens. Is he also a

24:31

fun guy like me? You've

24:34

already made that joke and Lee's definitely

24:36

heard it before. When I started

24:38

I think I was getting, oh you must be a fun guy

24:41

at least three times a week for the first

24:43

six months. I think I got sick of that one. I'm

24:46

sorry but you know we're already two fun

24:48

guy puns into this episode

24:50

and we're definitely going to do more.

24:52

I hope Lee will

24:55

understand and he did

24:57

give me an alternative fun guy pun.

24:59

There's

25:00

not much room in here if a room

25:02

is busy. That's pretty good.

25:05

It's definitely a little

25:07

bit of a deeper cut.

25:08

Well you might say there's spore

25:10

where that came

25:11

from. Oh good

25:14

one. So I know there's probably

25:16

more to fun guy than making puns although

25:18

I'm sure that could be the whole show. Definitely.

25:21

It seems

25:23

like we should at least try to answer Alice's

25:25

question if there's much

25:28

room left.

25:29

We're definitely going to get to Alice's

25:31

question but first let's take

25:34

a little tour of the Fungarium and

25:36

get to know our guide.

25:37

Alright let's do it.

25:39

So Lee didn't start out

25:41

as a fungi scientist or mycologist

25:44

as they're

25:44

called. He was actually a paleontologist.

25:48

I'm a very bad paleontologist. I think dinosaurs

25:51

are boring. Yeah like you know one bone. Oh look

25:53

it's got big teeth. Whoa

25:56

there dinosaurs boring.

25:58

I don't

25:58

know. Should we just end the episode

26:01

right now? No.

26:03

Look, we

26:06

just need to apologize and move on from

26:08

this, Marshall. Sorry

26:10

to the Dinosaur fans. We

26:13

do not

26:13

agree with Lee's views. Just want to

26:15

make clear that the views held by our guests

26:18

do not reflect the views of the Makers of Tumble Science

26:20

podcast for kids or any of our sponsors.

26:23

We think dinosaurs

26:25

are cool. So anyway,

26:28

but how did a paleontologist with a

26:30

weird fringe view end up studying fungi?

26:33

Lee's job is really looking

26:36

after collections of specimens and

26:38

museums as a curator. So

26:41

over his career he's moved

26:43

from collections of fossils to

26:45

plants to now fungi.

26:48

And it turns out it's the best thing ever because they're

26:50

fungi are far cooler than plants or dinosaurs.

26:53

Wow, he's really throwing plants in there

26:56

too. Sorry, plant lovers.

26:57

I know this is

26:59

extreme, but try not to hold it against

27:02

Lee. He's just so in

27:04

love with his job at the Fungarium.

27:06

It's a bit like a warehouse of

27:09

large green boxes,

27:12

each filled with dried mushrooms. And

27:14

it's kept nice and cool for the noble

27:16

nasty insects to get in and eat out their way through the collection.

27:20

And it's floor to ceiling with these really nice fabric

27:22

covered green boxes.

27:24

So is that so that nothing gets mushy

27:28

in the room? In the mushy

27:31

room?

27:31

There are over 13,000

27:35

of these green boxes and

27:37

Lee

27:38

has to keep track of all of them.

27:40

I would say I'm

27:42

like a librarian of mushrooms.

27:45

I'm one of the people who looks after the 1.3 million

27:48

fried mushroom specimens that are used

27:50

for science research by scientists

27:52

all over the world. That's really like

27:54

a lot of mushrooms in a room. In

27:57

a lot of boxes. I could open

27:59

one box. box every day for

28:01

the next 20 years if I

28:03

wanted to. I think there's enough boxes here to do at least

28:06

one a day for 20 years. So

28:08

like every day he could do a new unboxing

28:11

video. Ooh, what do we have here?

28:13

And then he plays with the mushrooms and makes them talk to each

28:15

other. I'll watch that.

28:18

Me too. But so why do

28:20

we need all these boxes of mushrooms? Well,

28:22

they help scientists understand

28:25

fungi, what makes them unique,

28:27

and how they're related to each other.

28:30

So building a family tree of all the

28:32

different fungi, because we don't

28:34

know. Probably there are two

28:37

or three million species of fungi in the world,

28:40

and we've barely scratched the surface.

28:42

That's a lot of species. Yes,

28:45

and researchers are looking for more.

28:48

Most of it is focused around understanding what

28:50

fungi are out there. They've got looking for new species.

28:54

Fung-splurs. Fung-sporers?

28:58

Fung-sporers. That's two

29:00

for one, really. There we go.

29:02

So researchers

29:05

collect new specimens to add

29:07

to the Fungarium's collection, and

29:10

in turn, they ask for existing

29:12

specimens to study and compare.

29:15

We regularly send dried

29:18

specimens all over the world for people to study.

29:21

So what do people do with all these dried mushrooms?

29:23

I assume they just start making soup. A

29:26

lot of what people do these days, and researchers

29:28

do these days, is they extract the

29:30

DNA from them.

29:32

DNA is the genetic code

29:34

that's in the cell of every living

29:36

thing on Earth, and getting it out

29:39

of a fungus is a little like preparing

29:41

a recipe.

29:42

You take a little piece of the mushroom, you

29:45

grind it up in laboratory, you add

29:47

different chemicals, and you pull all the DNA

29:49

out of it, and then you sequence

29:52

that DNA. You have a little butter,

29:54

and you really get that umami

29:56

flavor.

29:56

Hold

29:59

the butter.

29:59

because we're doing

30:00

science and the DNA is

30:03

useful if not tasty.

30:04

It gives you like a fingerprint

30:07

of that species and tells

30:10

you what makes it unique.

30:11

So every spore is special.

30:13

Yes, and after seeing how each

30:15

species is different, scientists

30:18

look for their similarities.

30:20

You can compare all those fingerprints between lots

30:22

of different species and you can understand how they're

30:24

related to one another.

30:26

So that's how they build the family tree, one

30:28

little ground-up mushroom at a time. But

30:31

I have a question. Is the mushroom the fungus

30:33

part or is that something different? Well,

30:35

the mushroom is actually just one

30:38

part of what makes a fungus a

30:40

fungus.

30:41

The mushroom is like the flower or

30:43

the fruit of a tree. In a fungus, a mushroom

30:45

is produced to produce spores which go off and

30:47

grow into new mycelium and

30:50

a new fungus.

30:51

In other words, mushrooms are for

30:53

reproducing and they happen to

30:55

be the best part of the fungi to

30:58

collect. It really dries out

31:00

nice.

31:01

So what's the other thing that Lee mentioned,

31:03

the mycelium?

31:05

So this is the bit that's underground that you don't

31:07

see. That's kind of like the leaves,

31:09

the branches, the trunk and the roots of a tree.

31:12

It's a bit that does all the work.

31:14

The mycelium looks like lots

31:17

of little threads or even fuzz.

31:20

Have you ever looked at moldy food

31:22

that appears to be growing something? That's

31:25

the mycelium. It's the living

31:27

breathing part of the fungus. And

31:29

the key to answering Alice's question,

31:32

do fungi breathe?

31:33

How's that the key? I'll

31:35

let Lee explain.

31:37

So in humans, we have lungs. We breathe

31:40

to fill our lungs with air so that our

31:42

bodies can absorb oxygen out of the air

31:44

so take it into our blood.

31:46

For humans, breathing oxygen helps

31:49

us turn our food into energy

31:51

that we use to live.

31:53

Fungi also need oxygen.

31:55

And they get oxygen directly

31:57

through the mycelium.

31:59

small, they're able to just

32:02

absorb oxygen into

32:04

their cells. They don't need lungs.

32:07

So in that sense, they don't breathe

32:09

like us because they can just absorb

32:12

the oxygen through their tissues.

32:14

So if you put a fungus on a log in a place

32:16

with no oxygen, it would die.

32:19

Yes, it would. And Lee said

32:21

Alice's idea of how scientists

32:23

find out was right.

32:26

It's a really simple, really

32:28

elegant and very neat way

32:30

of testing that out. You know, you could do that

32:32

at home almost. Good thinking,

32:34

Alice.

32:35

Lee says that fungi evolved

32:37

to use oxygen just like

32:40

plants and animals did. And

32:42

they played a really important role

32:44

in making Earth a livable planet.

32:47

If you think that plants made the atmosphere,

32:49

fungi made the

32:52

ground and the soil and the terrestrial

32:54

in there.

32:55

Well, that's no small job.

32:57

No kidding. Fungi made

32:59

it possible for plants and animals

33:01

to live on land. Before

33:03

plants moved on to land, there

33:05

was no soil. It would have been sort of dry,

33:08

rocky, sandy, dusty material.

33:10

But because fungi had already got there and

33:13

were on land, they were breaking down any organic

33:15

matter and making soils for

33:17

plants to get established in and to like

33:19

literally take root. Man,

33:22

I had no idea that fungus was basically the reason

33:24

that we're here. It still is.

33:27

Fungi are the foundation that any

33:30

ecosystem

33:31

is based upon.

33:33

There's two big groups of fungi

33:35

that play essential roles in nature.

33:38

The

33:39

vast majority of fungi, I'd say, that we

33:41

might come across if we're out and about somewhere, they're

33:43

what we call sap probes. So they

33:46

decompose

33:47

plant material. So these are the ones that

33:49

break things down, like basically rot dead

33:52

stuff.

33:52

Yeah, they help nutrients

33:54

return back to the Earth. It's the

33:57

circle of life. And another

33:59

type helps us out.

33:59

plants live.

34:01

The second big group of important fungi

34:04

are things that we call mycorrhizal fungi.

34:06

They live in what we call a mutualistic relationship

34:09

with plants. What's a mutualistic

34:11

relationship?

34:12

It's like having a best friend

34:15

and you're always helping each other out.

34:17

Is that really

34:19

what it is? It

34:21

means that both the organisms work

34:23

together in a way that benefits them.

34:25

In this case a plant and a

34:27

fungus.

34:28

So they live together in the soil and they

34:30

feed each other and support each other and

34:32

about 95% of all plants

34:35

need to have a mycorrhizal

34:38

partner in order to thrive and to survive. 95%

34:40

of plants need a fungus

34:43

to live? That's like almost all

34:45

of them.

34:46

Exactly. If fungi

34:48

didn't

34:48

exist, Earth would be a very

34:50

different place. So most plants

34:53

would get sick and die and when they did

34:55

die they wouldn't decompose, they wouldn't

34:57

rot down and it would just build up and we'd be

34:59

up to our necks in dead plant material. And

35:02

ecosystems would slowly start to collapse. I'm

35:05

certainly a lot more thankful for fungus than I've

35:07

ever been before. Maybe it's okay

35:09

that some of them end up in my feet.

35:11

Ew. Well

35:16

so now that we have the fundamentals

35:19

of fungus,

35:19

it's time to discover

35:22

some wonderful and weird new

35:24

fungi species right after

35:26

this quick break.

35:30

Alright everybody we've finished up

35:32

our episode about fungi and that can only mean

35:35

one thing. It's time for Patreon

35:37

people. We got a bunch of birthday shout

35:39

outs to give so here we go.

35:41

The loss. Mama and dad love your

35:44

curious mind and happy birthday on September 29th.

35:46

Zachary remember that great scientists take

35:49

chances, make mistakes, and stay curious.

35:51

Your moms and sister are very proud of you and happy

35:54

birthday on September 30th. Robin,

35:56

another happy birthday on September 30th

35:59

and Phoebe. Your family loves your amazing

36:01

curiosity about the world. And you also

36:04

have a happy birthday on September 30th. Ivy,

36:07

happy birthday science girl on October 2nd.

36:09

We love the way your mind works, love your inventions,

36:12

and getting to hear all your plans for life from

36:14

mom, dad, and Leland with much love.

36:17

Aviva, mom and dad are so proud

36:19

of you and your love of science. They love

36:21

you and happy birthday on October 6th. Avery,

36:24

mom and dad love your curiosity and your compassion.

36:27

Have an awesome birthday on October 6th. Olivia,

36:31

lots of love to their scientist in training

36:33

on her October 8th birthday from

36:35

mom and dad. Thanks to all

36:37

of you and to everyone who supports Tumble on Patreon.

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If you wanna get a birthday shout out of your own like

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