Fungus News

June 24, 2025

Top Headlines

From Cursed Tomb Fungus to Cancer Cure: Aspergillus Flavus Yields Potent New Drug

June 23, 2025 — In a remarkable twist of science, researchers have transformed a fungus long associated with death into a potential weapon against cancer. Found in tombs like that of King Tut, Aspergillus flavus was ...

83% of Earth’s Climate-Critical Fungi Are Still Unknown

June 15, 2025 — Underground fungi may be one of Earth s most powerful and overlooked allies in the fight against climate change, yet most of them remain unknown to science. Known only by DNA, these "dark taxa" make up a shocking 83% of ectomycorrhizal species fungi ...

Nitrogen Loss on Sandy Shores: The Big Impact of Tiny Anoxic Pockets

June 2, 2025 — Some microbes living on sand grains use up all the oxygen around them. Their neighbors, left without oxygen, make the best of it: They use nitrate in the surrounding water for denitrification -- a process hardly possible when oxygen is present. This ...

Student Discovers Long-Awaited Mystery Fungus Sought by LSD's Inventor

June 2, 2025 — Making a discovery with the potential for innovative applications in pharmaceutical development, a microbiology student has found a long sought-after fungus that produces effects similar to the semisynthetic drug LSD, which is used to treat ...

Scientists Find a New Way to Help Plants Fight Diseases

May 30, 2025 — Laboratory could improve crop resilience In a discovery three decades in the making, scientists have acquired detailed knowledge about the internal structures and mode of regulation for a specialized protein and are proceeding to develop tools that ...

Yeast Can Now Produce Human DNase1

May 29, 2025 — The protein DNase1 is one of the oldest biological agents in history: It has been on the market since 1958 and is now used, among other things, to treat cystic fibrosis. However, it takes considerable effort to produce it in immortalized hamster ...

Rock Record Illuminates Oxygen History

May 29, 2025 — A new study reveals that the aerobic nitrogen cycle in the ocean may have occurred about 100 million years before oxygen began to significantly accumulate in the atmosphere, based on nitrogen isotope analysis from ancient South African rock cores. ...

Nordic Studies Show the Significance of Old-Growth Forests for Biodiversity

May 27, 2025 — Researchers conducted a systematic review of 99 scientific publications that compared the flora or fauna of old-growth forests, managed forests and clearcut sites in boreal Europe. The reviewed studies showed large differences in the species ...

Yeast Reveals How Species Adapt to a Warmer Climate

May 24, 2025 — How do organisms adapt to climate change? A new study reveals the complex interplay between genetic diversity and temperature tolerance ...

Modulation of Antiviral Response in Fungi Via RNA Editing

May 23, 2025 — The molecular pathways involved in antiviral defenses and counter-defenses in host-pathogen systems remain unclear. Researchers have used Neurospora crassa as a model organism to explore how RNA editing influences fungal antiviral responses. They ...

'Selfish' Genes Called Introners Proven to Be a Major Source of Genetic Complexity

May 22, 2025 — A new study proves that a type of genetic element called 'introners' are the mechanism by which many introns spread within and between species, also providing evidence of eight instances in which ...

Unlocking the Secrets of Bat Immunity

May 21, 2025 — Bats are known as natural hosts for highly pathogenic viruses such as MERS- and SARS-related coronaviruses, as well as the Marburg and Nipah viruses. In contrast to the severe and often fatal disease outcomes these viruses cause in humans, bats ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:07pm EDT

Defying Darwin: Scientists Discover Worms Rewrote Their DNA to Survive on Land

June 18, 2025 — New research is shaking up our understanding of evolution by revealing that some species may not evolve gradually at all. Instead, scientists ...

Cover Crops May Not Be Solution for Both Crop Yield, Carbon Sequestration

May 20, 2025 — People have assumed climate change solutions that sequester carbon from the air into soils will also benefit crop yields. But a new study finds that most regenerative farming practices to build soil ...

Dual Associations With Two Fungi Improve Tree Fitness

May 16, 2025 — When trees and soil fungi form close associations with each other, both partners benefit. Many tree species have further enhanced this cooperation by forming a concurrent symbiosis with two different ...

Artificial Intelligence and Genetics Can Help Farmers Grow Corn With Less Fertilizer

May 15, 2025 — Scientists are using artificial intelligence to determine which genes collectively govern nitrogen use efficiency in plants such as corn, with the ...

Genome of Near-Extinct Northern White Rhino Offers Hope for Reviving the Species

May 14, 2025 — The northern white rhinoceros is one of the rarest animals on Earth, with just two females left and no natural way for the species to reproduce. Now, ...

Researchers Develop Living Material from Fungi

May 13, 2025 — Fungi are considered a promising source of biodegradable materials. Researchers have developed a new material based on a fungal mycelium and its own extracellular matrix. This gives the biomaterial ...

Cracking the Code: Deciphering How Concrete Can Heal Itself

May 7, 2025 — Lichen is an understated presence in our everyday world, often found clinging to trees and rocks. Its true beauty lies in its unique symbiotic system of fungi and algae, or cyanobacteria, that form a ...

Replanted Rainforests May Benefit from Termite Transplants

May 6, 2025 — Termites -- infamous for their ability to destroy wood -- are rarely welcomed into rainforests that have been painstakingly replanted. But a new paper suggests that termite transplants may be ...

Vertical Farming to Increase Yields and Reduce Environmental Impact

May 6, 2025 — Vertical farming can do more than lettuce. A research team has investigated the cultivation of six food groups in vertical farming: Crops, algae, mushrooms, insects, fish and cultivated meat. In this ...

A Fully Automated Tool for Species Tree Inference

May 5, 2025 — Engineers are making it easier for researchers from a broad range of backgrounds to understand how different species are evolutionarily related, and support the transformative biological and medical ...

160 Million Years Ago, This Fungus Pierced Trees Like a Microscopic Spear

June 8, 2025 — In a paper published in National Science Review, a Chinese team of scientists highlights the discovery of well-preserved blue-stain fungal hyphae within a Jurassic fossil wood from northeastern ...

Will the Vegetables of the Future Be Fortified Using Tiny Needles?

Apr. 29, 2025 — Researchers have shown they can inexpensively nanomanufacture silk microneedles to precisely fortify crops, monitor plant health, and detect soil ...

Less Intensive Farming Works Best for Agricultural Soil

Apr. 25, 2025 — The less intensively you manage the soil, the better the soil can function. Such as not plowing as often or using more grass-clover mixtures as cover crops. Surprisingly, it applies to both ...

Nonalcoholic Beer Yeasts Evaluated for Fermentation Activity, Flavor Profiles

Apr. 18, 2025 — Food scientists evaluated 11 commercially available yeast strains to identify their strengths based on chemical analysis and sensory panel opinions. Most of the yeasts that were tested are strains ...

Nutrients Strengthen Link Between Precipitation and Plant Growth, Study Finds

Apr. 17, 2025 — A new study has investigated how the relationship between mean annual precipitation (MAP) and grassland biomass changes when one or more nutrients are added. The authors show that precipitation and ...

New Plant Molecule Encourages Plant-Fungi Symbiosis to Improve Crops

Apr. 14, 2025 — Scientists use small peptides to enhance symbiosis between plants and fungi, offering a sustainable alternative to artificial fertilizers. Plant biologists discover new plant molecule, CLE16, as well ...

Missing Nitrogen: A Dramatic Game of Cosmic Hide-and-Seek Deep Within Our Planet

Apr. 11, 2025 — Earth's rocky layers are mysteriously low in nitrogen compared with carbon and argon. A scientific team explored our planet's molten youth using advanced quantum mechanical simulations, ...

Six Ape Genomes Sequenced Telomere-to-Telomere

Apr. 9, 2025 — Comprehensive reference genomes have now been assembled for six ape species: siamang (a Southeast Asian gibbon), Sumatran orangutan, Bornean orangutan, gorilla, bonobo and chimpanzee. Areas of their ...

Scientists Discover Microbes in Earth's Deep Soil

Apr. 7, 2025 — Scientists have discovered a new phylum of microbes in the Earth's Critical Zone, an area of deep soil that restores water quality. Ground water, which becomes drinking water, passes through ...

The New Season of The Last of Us Has a Spore-Ting Chance at Realism

Apr. 7, 2025 — The Last of Us is back on April 13 and this season is more realistic than ever. The trailer for the hit HBO series appears to show the 'zombie fungus' cordyceps infecting humans by ...

New Vaccine Concept Tackles Harmful Bacteria in the Intestine

Apr. 3, 2025 — In the fight against bacterial pathogens, researchers are combining vaccination with targeted colonization of the intestine by harmless microorganisms. This approach could potentially mark a turning ...

Use of Antifungals in Agriculture May Increase Resistance in an Infectious Yeast, Study Suggests

Apr. 1, 2025 — Genomic changes in the infectious yeast Candida tropicalis may play a role in its resistance to antifungals, according to a new study. These genomic changes can be brought on by a common antifungal, ...

Human Urine, a Valuable Resource as Fertilizer for Sustainable Urban Agriculture, Study Concludes

Mar. 27, 2025 — The reuse of human urine would allow for the production of sustainable fertilizers for urban agriculture, with significant environmental benefits, a new study concludes. The research evaluates the ...

Scientists Uncover Key Mechanism in Evolution: Whole-Genome Duplication Drives Long-Term Adaptation

Mar. 26, 2025 — Scientists uncovered how whole-genome duplication emerges and remains stable over thousands of generations of evolution in the ...

Team Finds Regional, Age-Related Trends in Exposure to Drug-Resistant Pathogen

Mar. 19, 2025 — Campylobacter infections are the most common foodborne illnesses in the U.S., sickening an estimated 1.5 million people each year. A new study examined records of Campylobacter jejuni infections from ...

Scientists Uncover Principles Underlying the Toxicity of 'Selfish' Genes

Mar. 18, 2025 — Lurking within the genomes of nearly all species--including plants, fungi, and even humans--are genes that are passed from generation to generation with no clear benefit to the organism. Called ...

Time Is Not the Driving Influence of Forest Carbon Storage

Mar. 18, 2025 — It is commonly assumed that as forest ecosystems age, they accumulate and store, or 'sequester,' more ...

Study: 'Sustainable Intensification' on the Farm Reduces Soil Nitrate Losses, Maintains Crop Yields

Mar. 13, 2025 — A nine-year study comparing a typical two-year corn and soybean rotation with a more intensive three-year rotation involving corn, cereal rye, soybean and winter wheat, found that the three-year ...

Early-Life Gut Microbes May Protect Against Diabetes, Research in Mice Suggests

Mar. 6, 2025 — The microbiome shapes development of insulin-producing cells in infancy, leading to long-term changes in metabolism and diabetes risk, new research in mice has found. The results could ultimately ...

Packets of Freeze-Dried Bacteria Grow Biocement on Demand

Mar. 5, 2025 — Cement manufacturing and repair could be significantly improved by using biocement-producing bacteria, but growing the microbes at construction sites remains a challenge. Now, researchers report a ...