Tuesday, May 28, 2019
First entertainment, now decoration?
Earlier I postulated that entertainment is a universal purpose of life.
Here's some evidence that decoration is also universal.
Headline: This Fungus Mines For Gold, Then Wears It
Main point:
The gold-crusted fungus, called Fusarium oxysporum, doesn't just look fancy; it also seems to benefit from the bling, spreading faster and growing larger than unadorned fungi, researchers reported in a new study. The scientists used a scanning electron microscope to create highly magnified images of F. oxysporum collected in western Australia, revealing the fungus's tendrils liberally encrusted with tiny bits of gold. The fungus is thought to gather the gold through chemical reactions with underground minerals; it dissolves gold flakes using oxidation and then produces another chemical to make the dissolved gold solidify around the fungal threads. However, it is not yet known how the fungus identifies gold, and though gold decoration seems to benefit the fungus, the precise mechanisms of how that works are unclear, according to the study.The gold particles aren't continuous, so the fungus isn't building a low-resistance signal wire. Maybe it just enjoys being pretty. Or maybe the reflectors form a heliograph-type semaphore. Or more likely, the gold dots are charge-eaters like pine needles.
Labels: Entertainment
¶ 3:40 PM
