Mycology megascience is gaining popularity as fungi study emerges from the shadows of previously more popular scientific fields.

Western science has largely neglected the study of fungi because it was only recently that technologies became available to allow full investigation of fungi. In addition, fungi did not have their own kingdom prior to the 1960s and were considered less important in the past.

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Sheldrake's Passion for Fungi

Rupert Sheldrake's son, Merlin Sheldrake's new book Entangled Life could revolutionize our perception of the fungal world. It presents the complex science of mycology from a Cambridge University tropical ecology Ph.D. degree holder.

He worked on Panama forests' underground fungal networks with a principal research interest in mycorrhiza. These are the fungi that are usually symbiotic with plants. They produce hyphae, which are tubes gossamer-fine in configuration and which weave the cellular plant root tips, joining separate plants to each other through an underground fungal network. It is a highly intricate, collaborative, and vast structure.

The fungi's hyphae make the mycelium, which is the branching mass which makes specialized structures or organs, the most popular of which are the mushrooms we know so well.

Sheldrake is adept at explaining complex ideas into easily understandable concepts. He is passionate about mycology and he believes we will soon discover their crucial part in our environment. He also sees fungi as playing a significant role in creating new technologies in the fields of sustainable food, building materials, product packaging, alternative leather, and waste management.

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Plant Dependence on Fungi

Ninety percent of all plants depend on their mycorrhizal networks, and plants are the "foundation" which sustains the life of everything on Earth.

Sheldrake says industrial mechanized farming massively damaged plants' microbial symbiotic relationships. He says that fungi feed plants and protect them from diseases. They also protect soil integrity and are carbon conduits. Carbon is the main component of soil, helping it retain moisture and keeping it fertile.

Fungi Help Develop Technology

Researchers now take advantage of fungal intelligence. In Japan, in particular, slime mold designs transport networks. The power of computers is agonizingly slow compared to the speed by which these organisms rapidly find possibilities and arrive at optimum paths. From these processes, scientists can develop algorithms and benefit and apply them in industries.

This doesn't even scratch the surface of all the possibilities and ways by which fungi can help us. The untapped potential is huge. To put it into context, only six to eight percent of all the fungi in the world have been presently identified.

Some Fungal Facts

The mushrooms of some species can discharge spores explosively at a speed 10,000 times as fast as the speed of space shuttles. Some species can push through asphalt roads and lift heavy pavement stones. A hypha as big as our hand is thought to be capable of lifting a weight of eight tons. A mycelium within one gram of soil can reach a length of ten kilometers if laid end to end.

Indeed, the mycology megascience can open up vast fields and sub-fields of knowledge and endeavor that may not even yet be imaginable today, as we study fungi more and benefit from them.

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