Scientists Mapped Earth's Vast Fungal Network - And It's Critical For The Climate

For the first time, scientists have mapped Earth’s vast underground fungal network - and it’s bigger than anyone imagined. Beneath our feet, plants and fungi have a hidden symbiotic relationship, sharing nutrients through fine fungal threads called hyphae. With these new global maps, we’re now starting to understand just how important the mycorrhizal network is in keeping the Earth’s climate stable - including the extent of the carbon it draws down. But the ecosystems where these networks exist are being stripped back for agriculture and damaged by fungicides - so how can we protect them? To explore this topic, Rowan Hooper is joined by some of the researchers behind the project - Toby Kiers, Tom Shimizu and Merlin Sheldrake. Find out more about SPUN, the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks: https://www.spun.earth/ See the Mycorrhizal Infrastructure Map: https://a-hidden-infrastructure.spun.... Read Rowan’s symbiosis book ‘Togetherness’: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/45900... -- What does the latest science actually mean for us? Each week, New Scientist editors Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet dig into the biggest stories in science alongside expert scientists, from the mysteries of consciousness to the search for dark matter, to feed your curiosity and make sense of an uncertain world. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes: http://bit.ly/3OvFB80 🔔 For a specially discounted New Scientist digital subscription, go to https://newscientist.com/youtube ───────────────────────────── LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ───────────────────────────── 🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xN0obO... 🎙️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... ───────────────────────────── MORE FROM NEW SCIENTIST ───────────────────────────── 🌐 Website: https://www.newscientist.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://bit.ly/NSYTINSTA 📘 Facebook: https://bit.ly/NSYTFB 🐦 Twitter: https://bit.ly/NSYTTW