In the dark
FUNGI have been around for a long time, a lot longer than people: probably 500m years. Scientists used to consider fungi to be part of the plant kingdom, but now put them in a kingdom of their own: they cannot synthesise their own food, and differ from plants fundamentally in their biochemistry and structure.
This article appeared in the Christmas Specials section of the print edition under the headline “In the dark”
From the December 20th 1997 edition
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