LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Leila Fadel. Mushrooms - they keep to themselves, don't move around, don't prey on others, but they might just talk. A scientist at the University of the West of England inserted tiny electrodes into four species of fungi and discovered that shrooms seem to use electrical impulses to communicate internally, say, about food or an injury. The impulse clusters are so intricate, they actually resemble words. A mushroom's vocabulary - about 50 words. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.