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Fungi are fascinating and integral parts of the web of life. They also have a bit of a mixed reputation.
On the one hand, mushrooms and fungal root webs seek out nutrient-rich food, mind-altering drugs and environmentally friendly materials – and help trees share nutrients and store carbon in a way that could combat climate change.
Other members of the fungal family tree are less desirable and act as disease-causing pathogens that can disrupt ecosystems and plague human and animal health.
But a newly described mystery involving a mushroom and a frog suggests that the role of fungi in the environment is not just black-and-white.
Once upon a planet
Some naturalists came across a strange sight inside a roadside pond in the Indian state of Karnataka in June 2023: a golden-backed frog with a tiny mushroom growing from its side.
The team photographed the apparently healthy amphibian and reported the discovery. Examining the images, an expert identified the mushroom as a common bonnet, a type of fungus that grows mainly on rotting wood.
It is not clear why the mushroom made the frog its home. The odd growth could be the result of a fungal infection, which is common in frogs, or evidence of a symbiotic relationship.
The researchers plan to return to the same location during the next monsoon season to conduct further investigations.
Look up
The DART mission was a landmark test of asteroid deflection technology — a proof of concept in case humanity needs to protect Earth from a potentially devastating collision with a space rock, like the one that harmed 66 million dinosaurs a year ago.
The target of that NASA 2022 mission was Dimorphos, a lunar asteroid orbiting a larger asteroid called Didymos. When the DART spacecraft crashed into Dimorphos, it changed the asteroid’s orbital period – how long it takes to circle Didymos – by about 32 to 33 minutes.
Space scientists have learned more about what happened to Dimorphos. Rather than being a simple crater, the impact changed the asteroid in a fundamental way, new research has shown.
“If you think Dimorphos is starting out like a chocolate M&M, now it looks like you’ve been bitten!” lead study author Dr. Sabina Raducan, postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Physics of the University of Bern in Switzerland.
Secrets of the sea
The songs of whales have long been known to echo through the surprising depths of the ocean, but it’s not just the marine giants that can be heard.
Scientists have discovered a small translucent fish that makes a louder noise than an elephant. Living in shallow waters off the coast of Myanmar, members of the species Danionella cerebrum can make sounds higher than 140 decibels.
“This is comparable to the noise one feels on airplanes during takeoff 100 (meters) and quite unusual for such a small animal,” said ichthyologist Dr. Ralf Britz from the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden. , Germany, in a news release.
Britz and his colleagues analyzed high-speed video recordings, micro-CT scans and genetic information to understand the unique way males of the species generate the thunderous sound.
Turn, turn, turn
Have you forgotten why February had an extra day this year? Here’s a quick refresher.
A leap year is essentially a piece of cosmic bookkeeping that prevents the seasons from happening. Without one, the summer solstice we generally experience in June would have occurred in December 700 years ago.
A solar year is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds, according to NASA calculations. As a result, each year the commonly used 365 day calendar lags the solar year by about one quarter of a day.
While this may not seem like much of a difference, over four years, it works out to about a full day.
Lunar update
Odysseus, the first U.S. vehicle to make a soft landing on the moon in five years, had a busy week after falling and falling hair near the moon’s south pole on February 22.
Despite a bumpy landing that left Odie on its side — a back that was captured in striking images — data from all six NASA instruments on board was transmitted as well as commercial uploads, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Intuitive Machines IM-1 lander faces another test: a sustained lunar night, a dangerous situation because the swing into ultra-freezing temperatures during this period could damage Odie’s hardware.
Elsewhere in our solar system, space scientists have spotted three thin and tiny moons orbiting the outermost planets in the Milky Way: Uranus and Neptune.
Inquiries
Explore these mind-expanding stories:
— Archaeologists have found a 2,000-year-old clay head that once belonged to a god figure. The rare find provides new context about life in Roman Britain.
— A dead star that once feasted on a planet in its orbit could predict the fate of our own solar system.
— Scientists have identified one reason why invasive Jorō spiders are spreading across the United States.
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