Fungus Fire Spores With 180,000 G Acceleration 69
Hugh Pickens writes "Although a variety of spore discharge processes have evolved among the fungi, those with the longest ranges are powered by hydrostatic pressure and include 'squirt guns' that are most common in the Ascomycota and Zygomycota. In these fungi, fluid-filled stalks that support single spores or spore-filled sporangia, or cells called asci that contain multiple spores, are pressurized by osmosis. Because spores are discharged at such high speeds, most of the information on launch processes from previous studies has been inferred from mathematical models and is subject to a number of errors, but now Nicholas Money, an expert on fungi at Miami University, has recorded the discharges with high-speed cameras at 250,000 frames-a-second and discovered that fungi fire their spores with accelerations up to 180,000 g, calling it 'the fastest flight in nature.' Money and his students, in a justified fit of ecstasy, have created a video of the first fungus opera."
So Dr. Money... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Nematocysts (Score:4, Funny)
Gotta love that shit...
Zerg! (Score:5, Funny)
Zerg Spore Colonies in Starcraft. Better get 'em while they're young, from a safe distance. Watch for the rush.
Re:So Dr. Money... (Score:5, Funny)
Must...resist...obvious...joke... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Must...resist...obvious...joke... (Score:1, Funny)
Asci porn is so 80's. What's this doing on the Slashdot front page?
Re:Fungus/fungi (Score:5, Funny)
You are Non... (Score:2, Funny)
Perhaps, if we were to plant spore sacs in your brain organ and let its tendrils spread through your flesh, then you would truly understand Juffo-Wup... become part of Juffo-Wup.
Re:Nematocysts (Score:3, Funny)
makes me wonder if someone ever measured the speed of a pinched out zit
Re:Material for Sci-fi Artists (Score:3, Funny)
So long as the warhead only weighs as much as a tiny spore, that should work well.
Re:Nematocysts (Score:3, Funny)
makes me wonder if someone ever measured the speed of a pinched out zit
What mass, and how many G's does it take for the discharge to break the mirror?
(Score:-1, Disgusting!!!)
This Side of Paradise (Score:3, Funny)
Do any of these spores thrive under Bertold rays and have miraculous healing properties on humans, such as regrowth of a removed appendix?
Re:Fit of ecstasy? (Score:3, Funny)
You have clearly not eaten enough of the fungus to understand.