Language of fungi
by Debbie Lee
Mycelium colony
Neuronal spiking
The mycelium of a fungal colony may use electrical impulses to communicate, which could be considered a “language”. The impulses vary in amplitude, frequency, and duration, and can be grouped into “words”. Mycelium acts as an organic network of telephone lines, sending signals to different parts of the fungus. The impulses can be modified in response to different stimuli, similar to how neurons operate in a brain. The patterns of electrical impulses could be the basis of a fungal language. Different fungal species may have distinct electrical signaling patterns, suggesting a unique “language” for each species. The average word length in the fungal language may be similar to the average word length in some human languages.
In his paper “Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity”, Andrew Adamatzky applies quantitative analysis of voltage fluctuations in fungal mycelia. The report concludes that the patterns of electrical fluctuations can be grouped into “words” analogous to those found in human languages. Adamatzky’s 2022 study groups spikes into words, thereby providing a linguistic and information complexity analysis of the fungal spiking activity. This confirms a secret language of mushrooms: How fungi use electricity to speak.
Further reading:
‘Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity’, 2022, Adamatzky, A., Royal Society Open Science, available: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211926
Author bio:
Debbie Lee (@lee_debbie):
Writing from places light and dark,
awkward data nerd,
elegant word nerd,
dreaming in colour,
clumsily balancing love, hope,
kindness with pragmatic realism.
Read more sciku by Debbie: ‘Technomancy’ and ‘Toxic Male’.