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fungi

What darkness lives inside household appliances?

We've all opened a household appliance--maybe a dishwasher, washing machine, or coffee maker--and winced at the ensuing smell.

The funk, according to new research published in the British Mycological Society journal Fungal Biology, comes in the form of various types of fungi that are frequently found to be an agent of human disease in compromised and healthy individuals alike.

"This is such a new thing that we have few tips," Nina Gunde-Cimerman, a professor at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, said in an e-mail. "A thorough heating at high temperatures would probably be beneficial, although … Read more

The fungus among us takes on depleted uranium

Long after the shooting has stopped, radioactive dust particles dispersed by exploding, depleted uranium (DU) artillery and tank shells leave the contemporary battlefield a dangerous place--and there's been little hope of decontamination, until now.

Researchers from Scotland's University of Dundee have discovered that common backyard fungi may be the key to cleaning and reclaiming DU-contaminated soil in places like Iraq and Bosnia.

The team found that free-living and plant symbiotic (mycorrhizal) fungi can colonize DU metallic surfaces and geochemically transform them into uranyl phosphate minerals, stabilizing the uranium, reports a study published in the journal Current Biology.

"… Read more