Fungi are neither plants nor animals and belong to their own kingdom. Whereas animals eat by putting food directly into their bodies, fungi eat by growing into their food, dissolving it, and then absorbing the nutrients.

Most fungal life starts with a spore. Fine tubes called hyphae grow from each spore. Hyphae then branch and fuse to form a delicate web called mycelium.

Different fungi have different spore dispersal strategies. While most fungi disperse their spores by wind, some fungi can glow at night to attract insects to help spread their spores.

Over 90% of plants rely on fungi to connect to their roots and shuttle nutrients to the plant. A single plant can form relationships with hundreds of different fungi and a single fungus can connect to more than one plant. This underground shared network is often called the "wood wide web".

Fungi are some of nature's most remarkable chemists. They are one of the only groups of organisms that can decompose complex chemistry of wood. Without fungi, dead wood and other plant matter would pile up.

Fungi have an incredible ability to break down natural materials, as well as some that are human-made. Indeed, they may hold the key to solving some of humanity's most urgent problems. Plastic is one!

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