Ruud Kleinpaste: A fungal lesson in sustainable design

<p>Many gardeners and observant nature nerds report seeing weird, white, slimy structures lying on the forest floor and on top of the mulch in gardens</p> <p>Basket fungi are large spherical football-like structures that carry the spores of the fungus: it’s the brown smudgy stuff on the white, rubbery polygons.</p> <p>Those spores smell quite putrid and attract all kinds of flies that lap up the moisture – it’s probably full of proteins; nutrients!</p> <p>The spores stick to their feet and as they land in the forest, garden mulch, or on some organic debris, the fungal spores are distributed – repeating the cycle.</p> <p>When you see a very juvenile version (they look like creamy-white eggs, sticking half out of the ground) just grab one and cut it open</p> <p>It’s remarkable how the basket fungus is totally compressed, folded up and ready to hatch inside that “egg”:</p> <p>Main points of the story… What can we learn from this fungus?</p> <ol> <li>a) they recycle stuff – there is no waste in nature</li> <li>b) They spread the spores throughout the forest by employing invertebrates such as flies</li> <li>c) Nature cooperates/collaborates… everybody wins in the arrangement (who invented the word “competition”?)… let me guess: Economists?</li> </ol> <ol> <li>d) Nature communicates with natural, chemical clues: the smell of the spores attracts the vectors</li> <li>e) Want to know how to economize on transport cost by reducing the size of packages? Have a look at the basket fungus!</li> </ol> <ol> <li>f) There are no straight lines in Nature’s Design</li> </ol><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>