More fun with mushrooms!

[Dannyalcatraz]

More Than Mere Magic Mushrooms | This Could Be Big - Yahoo! News

 

[Umbran]

But, whatever you do, do *not* smoke the container you brought your leftovers home in.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

"One word: 'Shrooms!"

 

[Umbran]

I am also reminded of the forethought of one of the masters of science fiction:

"That happened on Earth once," said Louis Wu. "A yeast that could eat polyethylene. It was eating the plastic bags off the supermarket shelves. It's dead now. We had to give up polyethylene." -- Larry Niven, Ringworld

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I was thinking the very same thing...

It's all well & good if it eats up the stuff in our landfills, but what happens if it gets out? HUNGRY.

(They DID say it fed on plastic in an anaerobic environment, so whether it could escape seems an open question...)

 

[Umbran]

(They DID say it fed on plastic in an anaerobic environment, so whether it could escape seems an open question...)

I didn't watch the video. But the story (and others about the fungus) say it *can* feed on the plastic in an anaerobic environment, not that it was this thing's regular habit. Other fungi in its phylum of fungi do just fine in air, so I don't think that'll save us.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What I was getting at- and the article was unclear about- is that it may only eat plastics in anaerobic environments. If they get air, they may revert to more normal fungus food...everything else!