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The living world is connected

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by a vast kingdom of life

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we are only just beginning
to discover.

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Fungi.

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Sometimes, they reveal themselves
above ground as mushrooms.

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Mostly, though,
they live out of sight

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as hidden networks

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which have shaped life on land
as we know it.

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Fungi are the miracle-workers behind

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so many of our foods and medicines.

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Yet we know so little about them.

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They are some of
nature's greatest survivors,

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enduring through
five mass extinctions

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in the last billion years.

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So how have they adapted
to catastrophe and upheaval?

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And what might we learn from fungi

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to survive our own time
of radical change?

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When it comes to the study of fungi,

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there are few better places

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than Kew Gardens, in London...

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..home to one of the most diverse
collections of plants and fungi

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in the world.

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British biologist and writer
Merlin Sheldrake

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has dedicated his life to
unravelling the mysteries of fungi.

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We're really just at the very
beginning of our understanding

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of these astonishing organisms.

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It's long been known that mushrooms
can be delicious

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but might also poison you,

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cure you or give you visions.

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Neither plants nor animals,

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fungi actually make up
their own kingdom of life.

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In fact, scientists now estimate

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that for every plant species,

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there are as many
as ten fungal species.

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This building is the Fungarium.

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A team of dedicated scientists,
called mycologists,

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research fungi here,

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including Dr Ester Gaya.

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Hello. Hi.

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Welcome. Thank you.
Lovely to meet you.

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Right now, we are inside the largest

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collection of fungi in the world.

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The reference collection
is like a library.

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Let me show you this one.

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It's quite interesting.

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The collection holds around
a million specimens,

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gathered over centuries

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by collectors
including Charles Darwin.

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Each specimen helps illuminate
the history of life on our planet.

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But much of fungal life happens

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on a scale too small
for the naked eye to see.

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So to really understand them,

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we need to enter their world

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through the lens of a microscope.

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Most fungal life begins
with a spore.

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From each spore grow tubes,

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called hyphae,

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five times thinner than
a human hair.

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Their most urgent task is
to find food,

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so they start exploring.

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As these tubes branch and fuse,

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they form a delicate web,
called mycelium...

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..which can grow into a network
with billions of hyphal tips.

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Fungi are some of nature's most
remarkable chemists.

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Whereas animals eat by putting
food into their bodies...

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..fungi eat by
growing into their food.

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Digestive chemicals produced
by fungi can unlock food sources...

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..allowing them to be
broken down and absorbed.

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Despite having no eyes or nose,

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mycelium can
still sense the world...

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..smelling chemicals,

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seeing light,

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feeling heat,

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even detecting electricity.

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Fungi have to be sensitive
to what's going on around them.

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They have to use that information
to make decisions

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about what chemicals to
produce next, where to grow next.

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Fungi show that you don't have
to have a brain to solve problems.

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This is one of the puzzles
of mycelial networks.

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Their control and coordination

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is somehow everywhere at once

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and nowhere in particular.

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Mycelium can form elaborate
structures

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and grow to incredible sizes.

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In the wild,

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some fungi are known to span

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more than ten square kilometres.

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They also act as transport networks,

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shuttling water and chemicals

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on rivers of liquid within
their cells.

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This makes mushroom growth possible.

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A mushroom forms when fungus weaves

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hyphae into a tight bundle

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and inflates these

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with a pulse of water.

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With these abilities,

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fungi have thrived on
every continent.

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The Australian island of Tasmania

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is home to some of the
most ancient rainforests.

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The Tarkine is the second-largest

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temperate rainforest on Earth,

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five times the size
of New York City.

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These forests have existed
for over 65 million years...

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..providing a living window
to the time of the dinosaurs.

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It's the perfect hiding place
for fungi,

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calling adventurers from
around the world

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to discover new species

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and unravel their secrets.

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Old-growth forests are
extremely special places.

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You don't get to be an
old-growth forest

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in a very short space of time.

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It takes waves of populations
of different organisms

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rising and falling in each other's
wake over centuries,

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creating the
conditions for the next.

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Here in the Tarkine, there's an
amazing diversity of fungi

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because it's so wet.

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Merlin has come halfway
around the world to be here

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in mushroom season.

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At this time of year, there is

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a symphony of different colours,
shapes and sizes.

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Most fungi don't produce mushrooms,

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and even the fungi that do

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only produce them
for a small moment in a year.

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Fungi have long enriched
and enhanced life on this planet.

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But researchers think we've only
described about 5% of all

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the fungal species on Earth.

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I want to better understand
how they've survived for so long

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and what lessons they might
have for humanity

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as we wrestle with our most
urgent problems.

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Merlin's research has helped
reveal an essential relationship

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between fungi and plants.

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Incredibly, over 90% of plants

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rely on fungi to survive.

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From the earliest moments
of their lives,

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plants use chemicals to signal
to fungi in the soil...

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..guiding them towards the roots

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and even into them.

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A single plant can form
relationships

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with hundreds of different fungi.

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By working with fungi,
plants can gain greater access

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to nutrients for growth.

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In return, fungi receive food,
like sugars, that plants produce,

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extending their reach
far above the forest floor.

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Under each footstep, hundreds
of kilometres of mycelial networks

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weave their way through the soil.

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More than one tree can connect
to a single fungus,

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forming shared networks,

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sometimes called
"the wood-wide web".

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Through these networks,

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resources can move between plants
of different species

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throughout the forest.

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Older trees with the most
connections act as central hubs,

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allowing younger plants to
take root and thrive.

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Fungi can teach us about
the symbiotic way of life,

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about how all life is lived
in relationships

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with other organisms.

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In this sense,
life is collaboration...

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..and collaboration
is always a blend

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of cooperation and competition.

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Fungi are one of the
circulatory systems of the planet.

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If you were to stretch out
all of the mycelium on Earth,

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it would span half of the width
of the Milky Way galaxy.

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But perhaps the most overlooked
superpower of fungi

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is their ability to recycle life
through decomposition.

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Fungi are some of the only organisms

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capable of breaking down

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the complex chemistry of wood.

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After penetrating the wood,

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fungi deploy a range
of digestive chemicals...

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..breaking down plant matter

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and releasing the nutrients back
into the soil

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to be taken up by future generations

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of forest life.

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You think about the life of the tree
as a living tree, standing up,

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but then you think about the life
of the tree

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after the tree has fallen, creating
the conditions for other life.

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Without fungi, dead wood and other
plant matter would pile up and up.

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Other fungi specialise
in recycling animal life...

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..including this
fascinating species.

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The ghoul fungus
is living in the shadow

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of the body that was once there.

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Fungi can decompose

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but they can also grow mushrooms,

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the next stage in the food web.

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When these mushrooms are eaten,
they provide the nutrients

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that other organisms
can then use to grow...

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..connecting all life
in the forest...

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..from the smallest

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to the largest.

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So it helps us to think
about how the matter

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that composes our own bodies
will continue its journey

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after we die.

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Forests exist thanks to the
transformational powers of fungi.

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But fungi also offer world-changing
opportunities for humanity.

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In the Yunnan province of China,

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new discoveries are
showing how fungi

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might help address some of our
biggest environmental challenges.

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These forests are home to
over 6,000 species of mushroom,

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making Yunnan one of the most
diverse fungal ecosystems

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on the planet.

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Some of the oldest-known fossils
of fungi have been found here,

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as well as the earliest
evidence of mushroom farming,

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over 2,000 years ago.

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Today, the people of Yunnan forage
and farm over 800 edible mushrooms.

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Other species have been used in
traditional medicine for millennia,

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with health benefits modern medicine
is only now beginning to explore.

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With such diversity, it makes sense
that Yunnan is at the forefront

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of fungal research,

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led by biologists
like Peter Mortimer

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and his team from the
Kunming Institute of Botany.

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Yunnan is a wonderland for fungi.

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It's really muddy, it's rainy,
there's leeches everywhere,

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the mosquitoes are biting you,

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but it is so much fun
looking for fungi,

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these hardships don't really matter.

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To date, we've been part of

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describing more than 1,000
new species of fungi.

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Recently, Peter and his team made
a discovery

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that might help us deal
with plastic waste.

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There's about 400 million tonnes
of plastic produced annually.

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Much of it enters
natural ecosystems,

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and chemicals inside the plastics
are leaching out

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into soil systems and water bodies.

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So, plastic is long-lived,

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it's absolutely everywhere,

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and it really is disastrous.

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We were collecting fungi
in the forest

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and we came across
a piece of plastic,

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and it was full of fungus.

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So we seal it up and we bring
it back to the laboratory.

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Lo and behold, we got
a whole range of fungi.

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Four of those are
new species to science.

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And even better, it turns out
those four species are able

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to break down plastic.

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So, under this microscope
in the petri dish, we can see

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how the mycelium from the fungi

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is penetrating this plastic sheet,

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breaking it apart,

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and then actively digesting it.

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It just shows
how rapidly fungi adapt

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in a change to the environment.

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Plastic has only come into existence
in the last, say, 100 years,

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yet fungi have the chemical arsenal

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to digest a range of plastics.

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If we can just find that one species
that can be very efficient

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at breaking down the plastic,
we can start doing it at scales

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where real-world problems start
getting addressed.

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Other fungi studied here
have produced therapeutics used

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in organ transplants,
as well as treatments

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for cancer and epilepsy.

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The most famous fungal medicine,
penicillin, has saved

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billions of lives by fighting
bacterial infections.

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Under the microscope,

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you can see penicillin holding back
bacterial growth.

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All of this lies within
the fungi around us.

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Until we find and discover
those fungi,

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we're never going to know what that
potential benefit could have been.

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But breaking down pollutants and
healing people

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aren't the only benefits
that fungi offer us.

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In the United States,

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a revolutionary industry
is emerging...

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..driven by the idea that not only
can fungi break things down,

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they can also build them up.

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One company at the forefront is
Ecovative Design

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in upstate New York,
led by CEO Eben Bayer.

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We want to use mycelium
materials to solve problems

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that are really important.

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So, for us right now, that's
around animal agriculture

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and single-use plastics, which are
two of, like, the biggest

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material-related
pressures on the ecosystem.

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Researchers here have discovered

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how to grow materials
using mycelium...

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..replacing plastic products
with alternatives

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which are fully recyclable.

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The first step is we get
agricultural by-products -

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things like wood chips.

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That's where we
add the mycelial cells.

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Over the next few days,
they go crazy,

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they grow all around the wood chips.

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When you're done growing it,

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you always end up with a product
that's completely compatible

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with the planet.

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You get this thing that looks
like Styrofoam,

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but you can actually
compost in your garden.

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You can literally just throw
this anywhere in the environment.

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And it would actually serve
as a nutrient for planet Earth,

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not a pollutant.

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Mycelium materials have been used
to grow everything

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from packaging to surfboards.

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They can even replace fabrics,
like leather.

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00:24:27,380 --> 00:24:31,700
Researchers like senior scientist
Molly Boutin are working

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00:24:31,700 --> 00:24:34,500
towards even more surprising
materials.

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We really take our inspiration
from nature.

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So when we go out into the woods
and collect samples...

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If you look at fungi out
in the wild,

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they might be different colours...

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..they form different structures.

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The diversity of fungi is
very important because it means

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that there are such a wide variety
of materials that we can make.

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When you collect these different
samples and bring them back

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to the lab, you will see
that they grow in different ways.

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00:25:16,020 --> 00:25:19,300
As you do research, you're seeing
things and you're learning things

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00:25:19,300 --> 00:25:21,580
that no-one's ever seen before.

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Mycelial materials touch so many
different industries,

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00:25:35,620 --> 00:25:38,660
like, 1,001 things you can do.

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Medical applications is definitely
a passion of mine.

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00:25:42,060 --> 00:25:45,980
Growing things like organs
with mycelium sounds way far out,

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00:25:45,980 --> 00:25:49,060
but my long-term dream would be able
to actually grow organs, or at least

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the scaffolding for organs,
using mycelium.

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If materials can be reimagined
in such a radical way,

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what other opportunities might the
fungal kingdom hold for humanity?

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Back in the Tarkine,

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fungi are shaping their environment
in ways that have

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00:26:25,660 --> 00:26:27,900
long been hidden from view.

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00:26:42,140 --> 00:26:48,140
A single mushroom can produce 30,000
microscopic spores each second.

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00:26:53,540 --> 00:26:57,380
As water evaporates from
the underside of the mushroom,

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00:26:57,380 --> 00:27:01,380
small wind currents
lift the spores into the air.

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00:27:07,580 --> 00:27:10,660
Fungal spores are the largest source

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00:27:10,660 --> 00:27:14,860
of airborne living particles
on Earth, equal to the weight

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00:27:14,860 --> 00:27:18,420
of half a million
blue whales each year.

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00:27:31,300 --> 00:27:33,460
As the spores rise,

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00:27:33,460 --> 00:27:35,900
they attract water vapour...

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00:27:37,460 --> 00:27:39,540
THUNDER RUMBLES

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..eventually forming raindrops
by the billions.

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00:27:42,820 --> 00:27:46,860
THUNDER CRASHES

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00:27:53,740 --> 00:27:57,020
At least 16,000 species of mushroom

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00:27:57,020 --> 00:27:59,340
release spores this way,

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00:27:59,340 --> 00:28:01,620
helping to stimulate rainfall

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00:28:01,620 --> 00:28:04,060
in forests all around the world.

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00:28:05,740 --> 00:28:07,860
It's a win for fungi.

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00:28:07,860 --> 00:28:12,500
Not only do they succeed
in spreading far and wide,

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they also nurture the moist
environments necessary

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00:28:16,700 --> 00:28:18,420
for fungal life.

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00:28:19,900 --> 00:28:23,900
THUNDER RUMBLES

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MERLIN:
The forest feels different at night.

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00:28:37,820 --> 00:28:41,220
It feels like it's inhabited
in a different way.

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00:28:44,140 --> 00:28:48,300
The whole forest is the outgrowth
of fungal relationships.

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00:28:52,580 --> 00:28:56,980
Everywhere you look, there are
stories unfolding around fungi.

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00:29:03,260 --> 00:29:06,580
Long-nosed potoroos here
in the Tarkine

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00:29:06,580 --> 00:29:10,500
have adapted to eat
over 60 species of fungi.

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00:29:15,420 --> 00:29:19,540
Potoroos rely on smell to find the
fungi that they need to survive.

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00:29:23,580 --> 00:29:26,380
Underground fungi produce
powerful odours that can

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00:29:26,380 --> 00:29:29,980
travel through layers of damp soil
out into the air.

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00:29:33,700 --> 00:29:38,220
By producing aromas to attract
animals, fungi which live

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00:29:38,220 --> 00:29:42,220
out of sight can
make themselves known,

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00:29:42,220 --> 00:29:45,660
ensuring their spores are spread.

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00:29:54,580 --> 00:29:59,620
Some fungi have figured out another
way to attract attention at night.

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00:30:03,300 --> 00:30:05,780
This is the ghost fungus.

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00:30:07,180 --> 00:30:10,660
It's one of around 90 species
of mushroom

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00:30:10,660 --> 00:30:12,860
known to glow in the dark.

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00:30:16,260 --> 00:30:19,260
Bioluminescence is another example

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00:30:19,260 --> 00:30:22,340
of the chemical wizardry of fungi.

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00:30:25,220 --> 00:30:30,140
Oxygen reacts with chemicals made
by the mushroom, producing light.

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00:30:42,860 --> 00:30:47,820
It's really exciting to see
these bioluminescent fungi glowing,

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00:30:47,820 --> 00:30:50,380
and when your eyes adjust
to the dark, they become

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00:30:50,380 --> 00:30:52,060
more striking and vivid.

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00:30:55,500 --> 00:30:59,220
Some species
glow to attract insects,

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00:30:59,220 --> 00:31:02,780
helping the fungi
by spreading their spores.

359
00:31:09,620 --> 00:31:12,100
Why other species glow

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00:31:12,100 --> 00:31:13,900
remains a mystery.

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00:31:16,700 --> 00:31:21,260
Mushrooms have been illuminating
these forests for millions of years.

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00:31:23,780 --> 00:31:26,260
But that light may soon be fading.

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00:31:38,580 --> 00:31:42,300
Fungi may be some of nature's
greatest survivors,

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00:31:42,300 --> 00:31:46,300
but never before have they faced
a threat like us.

365
00:31:59,060 --> 00:32:01,060
Forests like the Tarkine,

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00:32:01,060 --> 00:32:03,380
where fungi are most diverse,

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00:32:03,380 --> 00:32:09,660
are being cleared at the rate of one
football field every two minutes.

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00:32:14,180 --> 00:32:18,260
Of the old-growth forest that once
existed around the world,

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00:32:18,260 --> 00:32:20,900
only one fifth remains.

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00:32:24,700 --> 00:32:29,420
Some trees in the Tarkine
can live for over 2,000 years.

371
00:32:33,940 --> 00:32:38,340
Ripping out these ancient trees
disrupts the wood-wide web.

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00:32:42,460 --> 00:32:46,540
Deforestation interrupts
other crucial benefits

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00:32:46,540 --> 00:32:48,940
fungi provide the world.

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00:32:48,940 --> 00:32:53,380
Each year, mycelium draws down
more than five billion tonnes

375
00:32:53,380 --> 00:32:56,100
of carbon from the atmosphere,
which would otherwise

376
00:32:56,100 --> 00:32:58,100
drive climate change.

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00:33:03,660 --> 00:33:07,620
When I'm in these burnt,
clear-cut areas,

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00:33:07,620 --> 00:33:10,580
I'm reminded of
the Library of Alexandria,

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00:33:10,580 --> 00:33:14,180
which burned down, and much of the
knowledge and the wisdom

380
00:33:14,180 --> 00:33:16,100
of the ancient world was lost.

381
00:33:16,100 --> 00:33:19,100
Imagine that, but on a much
greater scale.

382
00:33:20,220 --> 00:33:22,300
We're burning the library,

383
00:33:22,300 --> 00:33:26,220
a library of different ways to rise
to the challenge of living.

384
00:33:31,340 --> 00:33:34,100
What aspects of this library
might be crucial for

385
00:33:34,100 --> 00:33:37,860
the planet's ecosystems and
for humans in the future?

386
00:34:03,540 --> 00:34:06,060
We risk losing entire branches

387
00:34:06,060 --> 00:34:09,700
of the fungal tree of life
to extinction.

388
00:34:13,420 --> 00:34:17,060
But if fungi
have taught us anything,

389
00:34:17,060 --> 00:34:21,860
it's that those who can
adapt, survive.

390
00:34:43,860 --> 00:34:46,980
In a world rapidly changing,

391
00:34:46,980 --> 00:34:50,180
it makes sense to study
the most resilient players.

392
00:34:52,420 --> 00:34:56,220
Merlin and other scientists
are working together to

393
00:34:56,220 --> 00:34:59,700
map the Earth's fungal networks -

394
00:34:59,700 --> 00:35:02,820
a vital step in better understanding

395
00:35:02,820 --> 00:35:05,580
the behaviour of fungi,

396
00:35:05,580 --> 00:35:09,220
and a critical tool in protecting
their ecosystems.

397
00:35:10,860 --> 00:35:15,460
Every sample collected builds
on the knowledge already gathered

398
00:35:15,460 --> 00:35:19,020
by scientists
and traditional cultures -

399
00:35:19,020 --> 00:35:23,340
knowledge we pass on to generations
yet to come.

400
00:35:43,660 --> 00:35:47,380
With millions of fungi
still to discover...

401
00:35:49,420 --> 00:35:52,620
..it's a journey
we're just beginning.