Researchers have demonstrated that unique fungi strengthen the 'immune systems' of wheat and bean plants against aphids. Fungi enter and influence the amount of a plant's own defenses, resulting in ...

Some stringy fungi are tough negotiators, trading nutrients shrewdly with plants. An advance in tracking the nutrient phosphorus has revealed new details of ancient trading networks between fungi and ...

New species are being discovered faster than ever before — at a rate of more than 16,000 every year, suggests a new study.

Scientists have long puzzled over the origins of eukaryotes, the domain of life defined by cells with a membrane-bound nucleus, which includes all animals, plants, fungi, and insects. If they unravel ...

Scientists have created plants whose cells and tissues 'blush' with beetroot pigments when they are colonized by fungi that help them take up nutrients from the soil. This is the first time this vital ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover the living world, from microbes to ecosystems. In a study published at the end of 2018, scientists used vast amounts of ...

These fungi boost plant growth and restore depleted ecosystems, but federal funding for a library housing them has been cut – and it may be forced to close ...

New species are being discovered at a faster rate than ever—more than 16,000 every year—and the trend shows no sign of ...

Fungi have a nasty reputation among humans. They can cause dangerous diseases like Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida auris among our own kind, massacre beloved fellow animals like frogs and bats and ...

Healthy prairie community with grey-headed coneflower and bee balm. (Photo by Liz Koziol) The North American prairie once covered 170 million acres, making it the largest ecosystem on the continent, ...

If you liked this story, share it with other people. The “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020” report, released this week, was born of the collaborative effort of 200 scientists from 42 ...

This plant, called a fairy lantern, is a parasite that steals all its energy and nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that dwell ...