When Giant Fungi Ruled

[@miriamlogan3733]

"It's a giant mushroom! MAYBE IT'S FRIENDLY!"

[@MrJohanGuzman]

Of course it is friendly. It's a fungi.

@@MrJohanGuzman Exactly. Fungi are most friendly. They live on rock-eating, and sometimes dead-organism eating. And there are numerous kind of them that are symbiotic with many different organisms.

[@trialtakagami6777]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 sokka.Musshyyy Giant friend

[@jaxxi9036]

That's enough cactus juice for you mister.

[@jhondoe4526]

If u brave enough ;)

[@katiekawaii]

"File it under 'Probably Weird Algae.'" "As you wish, sir."

[@lapeez2277]

probably algae or probably weird?

[@thebammer5166]

@@lapeez2277 Probably both.

[@mauricethegecko9700]

Me: kicks mushroom Mushroom: oh, you fool. Do you know who my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great....

[@JohnDarksoul69]

"my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather helped building this world, stupid millennial!"

[@emoticonmen]

The fungus are among us

[@sletelier8]

@@emoticonmen a fungus ඞ

[@thinginground5179]

@@sletelier8 fugus sus

[@destroyerofturtles5024]

@@JohnDarksoul69 his joke but worse

[@salec7592]

Hmm, the fungi seem like a go to address for our plastics pollution problem. They have long standing tradition of decomposing the toughest of materials there are.

[@pandoragoldspan7012]

there are fungi and bacteria that are discovered to decompose plastic, which is why you should never reuse Tupperware that you've let sit for weeks on end

[@quinxx12]

@@pandoragoldspan7012 These only eat certain sorts of plastics, like the ones of the rather flimsy sort

[@DatBoi-mo9vc]

@@voicelessglottalfricative6567 the video said they decompose minerals. Minerals arent organic.

[@voicelessglottalfricative6567]

@@DatBoi-mo9vc no one mentioned minerals

[@karolinakuc4783]

Fungi and bacteria do it too slow in process of digesting plastic it takes them 400years to do so and in case of single use bags 10000 years so...

[@markevns1744]

Mycologists missed a great opportunity to call themselves Fungineers.

[@adjjal]

YES MARK

[@jayknight139]

It's never to late. I'll be using that from now on.

[@ProfresherBlacklight]

Its the name of a psychedelic puppet show/ band thing search on youtube :)

[@leseulmecsansnom1088]

@@jayknight139 why would they late?

[@kamerad_marzuki3631]

Big Fungus

[@Silkiroth]

It's amazing how alien our planet actually is and we don't even realize it.

[@CJDavis-ij4df]

I do.... Thanks DMT....

[@TheCrappyZipper]

@@CJDavis-ij4df is that what dmt does?

[@CJDavis-ij4df]

@@TheCrappyZipper DMT has the power to show you where/who you were before you were even born

[@Giganfan2k1]

Its entirely possible.

[@takeiteasydudebuttakeit596]

Hahhah0 oh boy, please try it and then tell me the same thing.

[@chironOwlglass]

Never have i ever had the thought "YES, I need to watch this" quite so strongly as I did when I saw this video title. Show me the fungi, Blake. Show me the fungi.

[@devonhedinger4132]

All the fungi🍄🍄🍄

[@cheemsandbeans7952]

I wish I had a time machine to witness all these amazing things.

[@notmyopinion4981]

fun fact: without protective gear you would literally kill everything on earth, bc your body is used to stronger more adaptive gems and bacteria, which have evolved over millions of years, which the animals and plants from before are not equipped to handle. In other words: You bring illness to them, illness that you don't know as illness, bc it doesn't effect you at all, bc it's so weak compared to your immune system. But it would kill everything else that didn't have the millions of years to adapt like your body did. :P

[@Shrekfromthehitmovieshrek]

@@notmyopinion4981 big suit

[@mazedude5911]

I know

[@shillian4770]

@@notmyopinion4981 good

[@nick.3455]

@@notmyopinion4981 Bruh what other way would this guy explore what he would apparently kill then. Just ignore those things

[@pluspiping]

"They digest rock to create soil, and derive life from death" That's metal as all hell. All hail fungi.

[@TK199999]

I always assumed the reason the giant fungi went away, is because when vascular plants appeared, there didn't need to be giant anymore. Meaning once the symbiotic relationship with vascular plants began, fungi didn't need create the large trunk like structure. They could stay at or below ground and live that way.

[@SAMURIADI]

so life started thanks to a 8 meter mushroom, minecraft is realistic after all

[@merrittanimation7721]

SAMURIADI Apparently

[@leovigild_]

Yeah, those mushroom biomes are just piles of rock that are transitioning to a beautiful, luscious, boxy forest.

[@bulletsfordinner8307]

There was life before the shroom

[@zackwood8310]

Roblox is shook

[@Lumberjack_king]

Mooncraft

[@Rnt911]

Finally someone talks about the importance of fungi to life on land.

[@NotHPotter]

Came for the Carbon 12. Was not disappointed.

[@NinaDmytraczenko]

+

[@TheDigitalNerd]

400th like

[@baconology]

Michael Wade why do you need 12, seems greedy

[@RustOnWheels]

You’re such a fungi.

[@blanchekonieczka9935]

I love this guy! He's enthusiastic and his fast talking gets to the point quickly. So much information given in half the time it would take other narrators. He made fungi exciting! Thank you!

[@mercut10]

He's just like Howard Hamlin fr !

[@allen-castle]

​@@mercut10LMFAO

[@ccreed50]

Too speedy. c.f. Attenborough

[@lovehonourhonour7253]

"All we are saying, is give Yeast a chance" - John Lennon

[@juliankirby9880]

Love & Honour Honour you ever listen to the Yeastie boys? What about Bruce Springsteen and Yeast street band?

[@nmarbletoe8210]

"What you did to the yeast among ye, ye did that to me." -Jesus

[@DJCallidus]

John Leaven 🍞

[@cauchyhorizon5983]

Imagine if, in the future, we use fungi to make Martian soil arable!

[@nittygritty7034]

The Improbable Space That's a badass idea

[@cauchyhorizon5983]

For one, I'm not talking about growing food on Mars for sending it to Earth, I'm talking about feeding Martian colonists living on Mars permanently (If you were wondering). Secondly, you could use modified Martian soil in the food-growing towers (not everything can be grown hydroponically). And Earth won't be sending back Earth soil for the same reason Mars won't be sending back Mars produce: Each planet needs it for themselves, and it's just too much mass to be travelling between the planets. As a side note, if we were to terraform Mars, we wouldn't necessarily need to make all the soil arable anyway. Not for a very long time, at least.

[@alexanderx33]

Synerrox เ Think about what you are saying there. You think it would be more efficient to build a structure that would cost alot in design, foundation preperation, and construction to increase the number of plants relative to light energy available by 40, 50 times? Depending in the number of floors, which is partially moderated by the shadow the tower casts when its not noon but not really because then it is shading other towers. On a planet that aleady has way less light intensity due to the inverse square law than where we grow crops now? Im sorry but, crops need full sun (at earth's distance) to have enough energy available to make sugars. Farming on mars would require magnification of solar radiation to work, not dilution.

[@alexanderx33]

Synerrox เ So you are saying it would be better to have warehouses growing the plants hydroponically with electricity (which could be derived either from mirror concentrated solar power or, more likely, from nuclear power.) And avoid the problem of procuring soil on a planet where the dust is toxic to nearly all living things. It would also avoid loosing the precious little water available on mars from heating martian soil, to infiltration back into the ground.

[@bryanroland8649]

So what would the fungi eat?

[@Eveseptir]

These primordial fungi always fascinated me. I try to imagine the landscape littered with tiny shrubs and mosses and doted with these massive fungus obelisks.

[@MrJDozzo]

"Animal, plant or mineral" ah yes, the three genders

[@dadadede9359]

I am identified as a plant and this video offends me

[@buckerupfpv2622]

@@dadadede9359 yes you r potato.

[@desertflower3996]

I'm a lichen. 🙂

[@OsirusHandle]

Are we singular entity, or are we just the delusions of a compound...

[@yeepyorp]

@@dadadede9359 one joke

[@matthewcox7985]

Meet the life of the party, he's a real fungi! ...I hear crickets...

[@KvDenko]

What do you call a mushroom? A fun-gi to be with!

[@po-qo7vd]

Asked to buy a fungi on cregs list, i was dissappointed.

[@theponydalek7923]

Cordycepts: Sorry, that's just me...

[@Acidfrog475]

You see a small smile on my face

[@shannonleary2399]

THERE IT IS

[@minacapella8319]

I've always adored mushrooms and felt they were special (as well as delicious). This... really makes me feel even more adoration for mushrooms and other fungi

[@themysticalwanderer36]

Seems like you are suffering from mycophilia

[@RoccosVideos]

So one might say there’s fungus among us.

[@4qtips]

no

[@tarantulaman3221]

@Dunkldosteus Plants V.S. Zombies LOL!

[@grenolf]

You might even say there was Humungus Fungus Among Us...

[@NiffirgkcaJ]

Wait…

[@iffatsukabumiKingOfHell]

I thought this was an Among us joke but i looked the time this was commented it was two years ago

[@Naiadryade]

Fungi are amazing. I love the way we owe our whole lively world to them.

[@MorbidEel]

They are also delicious.

[@Naiadryade]

Morbid Eel, just make sure you've got the right ones! They can also be deadly. LagiNaLangAko23, I know! A fascinating group. I've seen some real cool nature documentaries featuring some of them.

[@felipewerner6670]

not only our lives, but our consciousness, imagine a primitive humanoid tracking some animal, and sundenly he found some poop and some mushrooms, he is hungry and eat the mushy, massive information flood his little brain, and in aeons and aeons in this relation, the human mind is born.

[@NathanWubs]

I am on team fungi

[@AllisonChains64]

I love fungi and your picture!

[@ZackWilliamsPANCAKE]

Welp, my D&D campaign just got more interesting

[@the_void996]

How’d the campaign go?

[@stowe5668]

Yeah I wanna hear what happened

[@user-hello2]

I want to hear what happened too!

[@rosanirodrigues557]

I want to know too! Sounds interesting!

[@gocoogs01]

earth: **exists** fungus: its free real estate

[@sakshamyasholiya6942]

🌲's After Several Years : Im bout to end this man's whole Career !

[@whhe11]

Any habitable planet: exists Hardy dehydrated fungal spores floating in space probably: it's free realestate

[@prexsan]

@@hemishshah6666 Yo seriously!LMAO~\(≧▽≦)/~

[@pokegard]

Hasent earth always been free real estate unless your neighbors keep killing you or taking your resources?

[@ramironunezborjas967]

"the fun in fungi" that really cracked me up, it made my day

[@DCDevTanelorn]

As a mycologist I approve this episode

[@duhduhvesta]

DCDevTanelorn +

[@bernardfinucane2061]

Then maybe you can give us a clue why these things got so big. Trees get big because they compete for sunlight. But theses things were "eaters", as the video puts it. So what was the point of growing tall?

[@WigantX]

might be the absense of competitors, easy access to nutrients, huge amounts of oxygen and the like?

[@alexisfloresmedina7041]

Bernard Finucane May be that the pillars were so big because it was a structure to spread spores like the fructiferous body in current fungi

[@EvilSnips]

That is a cool job! I have been thinking of becoming some sort of biologist but not something typical like a marine biologist or a zoologist. Maybe an entomologist?

[@andrep4805]

Omg my mind was blown so many times in so few minutes. I've never heard of ancient fungi being described, and I didn't know those facts about lichen either. I have a thousand new questions! Thanks!

[@crimsonking8811]

I would love to see a video on the evolution of fungi. Any way that could happen?

[@cadenrolland5250]

Great idea. That video would put some more fun in fungi.

[@Hellheart]

I was just coming to comment this same thing. Great minds, eh?

[@NinaDmytraczenko]

+

[@duhduhvesta]

Crimson King +

[@marekdzurenko3449]

Not that simple, since we really don't have much fossil evidence to make a complete picture. Fungi have soft bodies and don't fossilize well.

[@gustavosantiago3367]

Arbiter: What is it? More Covenant? MasterChief: Worse..

[@deazy6453]

The Flood has giving me a weird thing where I gag whenever I see fungi (breathing). It looks so gross, and I want to shoot it with my Battle Rifle lol

[@nilspace5233]

Next time I look at the giant fungi on my feet, I'll look at it with more love and caress and kiss it and say "thank you"

[@dannyboots]

ew

[@MrStensnask]

THE EVOLUTION OF EGGS. Would be entertaining.

[@horsymandias-ur]

From what I’ve seen, Fungi are perhaps the most underrated organisms of all time. Almost NO ONE seems to appreciate the vast contributions they have made, not in the only the past, but still today as well

[@kramarkml]

Mushrooms of the same species will sprout at the same time across the 🌎. Coral reefs have a similar kind of connection

[@Zer0TheProdigy]

Man I thought Fungi were interesting when I started getting involved in psychadelics. I hadn't realized until recently that they are pretty much the progenitors of most life as we know it

[@AlfredTheBrave]

mushrooms made themselves psychedelic so they could transfer their ancient wisdom to whoever/whatever could understand it

[@remynettheim4918]

WOLVES WWFC1887 bruh

[@rakbar6509]

@@AlfredTheBrave brrrruuh

[@someguy2135]

@@AlfredTheBrave Also, the universe created man to appreciate it. As Carl Sagan said, "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself."

[@shillian4770]

@@someguy2135 what magic mushrooms do to you is so awesome yet extremely chaotic and quite frankly terrifying.

[@styromaniac6967]

I owe my life to fungi. They can be symbiotic to humans, internally.

[@alisoncircus]

And parasitic. They'll fill any niche they're not kicked out of. But everything living above water owes it's life to fungi. That's the actual point.

[@ooooneeee]

Yeah some yeast in our gut flora can help us digest food.

[@xtrri2090]

"Thanks for putting the fun in fungi with me today" Ha, I laughed so hard. Funny gi.

[@marccolten9801]

People have been punched in the face for less.

[@duhduhvesta]

More like this! Insect, plant and fungus evolution is very rarely talked about. This stuff is great

[@24emerald]

Yes, awesome video...

[@rogerdotlee]

Blake, you are such a fun-guy. You grow on people. Har har. Loved that trunk pun as well. As far as what I'd like to see, I'd like to see the great extinction events get the PBS Eons treatment.

[@maxxfioriti7494]

1)Evolution of Eukarya and division into kingdoms 2)What are protists, and how are they related? 3)Molecular Evolution: how we use proteins, molecules, and genomes to piece together evolutionary relationships

[@duhduhvesta]

Maxx Fioriti +

[@feynstein1004]

I think Martinus lutherus was the first protist after it became distinct from the existing Catholi genus :P

[@amyp.575]

Yeah!! All these!! All these!! All these!!

[@vicariousgamer2871]

Mushroom at the bar, "Beer me bartender." Bartender, "We don't serve mushrooms." Mushroom, "Hey , I'm a fungi !"

[@blahthebiste7924]

Boo

[@luciaryan6063]

blahthebiste that didnt scare me

[@blahthebiste7924]

*Throws tomato*

[@anndriggers6660]

Hardy harhar

[@the_void996]

This is great.

[@sircharlesmormont9300]

Your videos are so addictive! It's *noon* and I've been watching all day. I can't stop watching! You guys do an excellent job of presenting interesting information in a clear and entertaining way. Keep up the great work!

[@nickinurse6433]

I listen to eons or PBS space-time every night to go to sleep just put it on shuffle and wake up smarter

[@IuliusPsicofactum]

I don't know who you are but you are a cool guy, stick around the channel, it was a pleasure to have you as host.

[@eons]

Hey thanks! (BdeP)

[@orangecamo1]

We need a poster of geological eons like they did for crash course chemistry.

[@eons]

Oo, that's a great idea! (BdeP)

[@orangecamo1]

Somebody tell Hank!

[@rojorohr4723]

I'd love a calendar (;

[@DrakosAmatras]

> When Giant Fungi Ruled THE MI-GO WERE REAL

[@koisov4401]

the what

[@judeorbe3948]

the fungi are underrated gems they tend to get overshadowed by plants and animals ignoring the fact they cause diseases their not to bad

[@lilabrownexo4691]

I identify as "probably weird algae" for the next century

[@bswtsp21]

I wonder how it tasted....?

[@hairutheninja]

Everytime I watch an episode of this it makes me wish so badly I could travel back in time to see stuff happen or just exist

[@arnbrandy]

No, thank YOU, Blake, for being the fun guy putting the fun in Fungi.

[@rx-0862]

Everyone: “oooh informative” Me: “hmm wonder if can i eat them ancient shrooms”

[@NimhLabs]

... so... from a certain perspective, Super Mario Bros might be historically accurate? ... I'll show myself out...

[@catherine_404]

Every time I see Blake, I feel slightly intimidated.

[@s6t6nourlord48]

that giant fungi was so cool 2:32 420 milion years!? awesome

[@jamesbentonticer4706]

These PBS shorts are my new favorite on youtube. Our past is so interesting.

[@MtnTow]

First signs of conscientious actions would be a cool topic.

[@abramthiessen8749]

I was waiting for this episode to come. Thank you.

[@duhduhvesta]

Abram Thiessen +

[@brendarua01]

I can hear it saying, "Feed me, Seymore!" But seriously, this was really interesting and filled in a big gap I had. Thanks!

[@onardico]

A future video about the ancient coral reefs please, thanks

[@shawnharrison7596]

I've talked to another mycologist and they said "New research on prototaxites shows they lived in/on soil, and crystallized minerals indicate they were mostly long, not tall, ie. they laid rather than stood. Toby Sprible in Edmunton assembled dna research that IMHO shows the genetic traces of this ancient ancestor in far flung extremophiles."

[@milu3779]

2:28 "shaped kinda like a...... tree trunk"

[@iainhansen1047]

Well eons has blessed us with another upload time to sacrifice another virgin.

[@sofakingonmynuts1438]

oh, me! pick me!

[@iainhansen1047]

sofaking onmynuts “pulls out sacrificial knife”

[@andrep4805]

Iain Hansen *begins chanting*

[@sofakingonmynuts1438]

yay im a part of something!

[@iainhansen1047]

“Lowers dagger towards the sacrifices heart, while chanting” DEUS NOSTER ACCIPERE HOR MUNES, ET VIRGINEM. ET INHABITARE FACIT UNIUS MORIS IN HISTOIRIA MAGIS!

[@chaegibson720]

Okay so I've know about this whole mushroom thing for s long time, but I have a fossil that my friend found when he was hiking in the mountains, and we've had no idea what this fossil was, but looking at the inner structures I just had a eureka moment and I think this is exactly what that is

[@pyne1976]

Mushrooms are very interesting. Especially at about 5g.

[@iosaturnalia]

My aunt, Dr. Regina Redman, is a molecular biologist and if I'm not mistaken is one of the international leaders on ancient fungi studies!

[@TheaHFrancis]

Whoa that’s cool 😮

[@ms.pirate]

The old world sounds so cool and creepy. A barren land of cloudy skys, with those giant mushrooms and few small mountains here and there, and green barren grown, with no animals. It gives liminal spaces vibes

[@cadenrolland5250]

They went extinct not from plants but from more and better adapted fungi, some of which worked with plants.

[@arielmalsireal5453]

Now That Is Certified The Last Of Us

[@Carbonoid1]

The whole dirt thing was something I was super curious about so thanks for that! I'd love to know how both plants and animals evolved thorns and spines!

[@Thegardenbetweenus]

Thorns are modified leaves. To defend againts predation. Many people think evolution is filled with trial and errors, when in reality nature is quite intelligent. It can respond with proper adaptations quite quickly.

[@Thegardenbetweenus]

Vertebrae had its start in fungi...well the nervous system anyway. It become adopted by early arthropods and so on.

[@yctan97]

0:22 the FUN GUY!

[@supershenron9162]

I can attest to the importance of fungi my plants wouldn't even be able to use the nutrients I use if it wasn't for microryza breaking it down for the plants to use

[@JackhammerJesus]

"The hayday of the giant fungus spanned 70 million years- a short time..." Well, apes came along only 10 million years ago and already some of them think they are dominating the place.

[@doppelminds1040]

Fungi are so metal

[@fraserhenderson7839]

Wow! Who knew? I thought a portobello was large. I wonder how these would taste, thinly sliced, sauteed in butter with black pepper and coriander? Your suggestion that they could not keep up with the dinner crowd seems logical to me

[@pansepot1490]

Fraser Henderson, I don't know if you can make really thin slices with a chainsaw.

[@richardbraakman7469]

It's such a shame they died out before black pepper was invented

[@TheJhtlag]

mushrooms have a lot of protein, I could very well see them be targets once terrestrial animals developed a taste for them.

[@TheCynicalDude_]

Paul Stamets says that portobellos cause cancer. Google this and research before you decide whether or not to keep eating them. He's a bit secretive about talking about it though. Agaratine or something that sounds like that is the reason for cancerous tumors to grow.

[@fraserhenderson7839]

Thanks for the heads up. I have eaten and drunk (and breathed and been exposed to) so many cancer causing, teratogenic and otherwise toxic products of our wonderful new world that it's too late for food worries. I like 'em grilled and I understand that is a whole other bad food category.

[@darkeather2]

Wow, I never knew fungus could burrow into rock, or that it is what created the original soil. I'd always wondered how dirt first got its nutrients, that's so cool.

[@audrey2658]

School gave me a picture of grass growing on a thin layer of eroded rock.... which doesnt really make sense at all. Rock eating fungi though? Sensible and real.

[@judefrancisco1463]

Fungi are the best recyclers of ecosystem. Without them nutrients cannot be available in every organism. Thanks PBS Eon for this awesome video! More power to your channel.

[@aabaz202]

I literally love when I see you guys post a video. It’s always well done and informative

[@sunnchilde]

I heard a story that somewhere in Ohio there is a fungus that is "genetically identical" to many other samples of fungus found in many other places miles away. It was said that it may be as large as 26 miles wide and may be ther largest organism in the world.

[@Bengette]

Fungi have always fascinated me and make neat sci-fi and horror fodder. For example, the Toho Studios horror film Matango comes to mind. Then, there was that episode in the X-Files where everyone was hallucinating while being digested alive by a giant underground fungus. And let's not forget the smash hit PS4 game, The Last of Us.

[@calessel3139]

It is a bit funny to think the 70 million year reign of Fungi as a "short" time period, especially when you consider the Cenozoic era, and the age of the mammals, has spanned only about 65 million years.

[@think2086]

Using genetic engineering, can we find a way to create a modern version of this but with the ability to do photosynthesis as its primary source of energy? If so, we could get it growing around toxic waste sites to break down their toxins, AND simultaneously sequester C02 from the air.

[@konz2891]

If the primary source of energy was photosynthesis there would be no need for it to break down the waste.

[@Infamous41]

I love the internet being my full time education

[@geraldbmullen4386]

.75 speed was much more enjoyable. Great content.

[@predatoreusfilms9992]

CrazyReii why ya in such a hurry? It’s quarantine

[@RobertScottAudio]

@CrazyReii .75 speed is about the speed at which normal people speak. We live in a machine dominated world but don't have to talk that way. Thanks.

[@Phoenix88.]

Thank you I was looking for this comment. I just woke up and was all like why the hell is this at 1.5x slow down jeez I don't even know what day of the week is yet

[@danielawesome36]

@@RobertScottAudio File Sizes and File Compression disagrees with you. If you want less of those two, that is.

[@kalakritistudios]

We're as pissed as Yanny and Lauren stuff.

[@punkandrockgirf]

This guy is awesomely built! Pecs, biceps. I gotta hit the gym.

[@phoenixfritzinger9185]

Prototaxides is actually most the organic matter that eventually became coal and was able to build up in such massive amounts because there wasn’t anything that was able to break down that amount of organic matter at the time The Appalachian mountains formed about 480 million years ago and are quite well known for their coal deposits, and trees evolved 58 million years later So John Denver’s song “Country Roads” is scientifically accurate when he says that life is old there, older than the trees

[@sarahgray430]

The thought of forests of huge, phallic-looking fungi covering the landscape makes me chuckle. People tend to be unaware of the role that yeasts and fungi play in the ecology, but there's more to them than making beer and pizza!

[@iamjeeves]

I learn more from this show than 3 years of college biology classes...

[@cynicalfilms5734]

Damn. Why do I have to be on an Oil rig.

[@johnemory7485]

ikr...

[@cynicalfilms5734]

Same problem?

[@Hellheart]

Cynical Films I'm gonna guess that it was by choice (likely, for employment reasons)? No one just so happens to find themselves on an oil rig for no reason.

[@cynicalfilms5734]

Yeah im an on an oil rig just off the coast of New Zeland been here for a few weeks now. And yes it was by choice.

[@johnemory7485]

Lol, yeah. Same problem. At least you have good scenery. I'm in north Louisiana. Been on this one a little over 60 days, now.

[@Hellheart]

I like Blake. I wanted to see more of him after seeing him host SciShow Quiz Show. Glad that he drew hosting duty on Eons.

[@icarusbinns3156]

I still laugh when I think of when I was (trying) to make sourdough, and Dad and I got into a debate over what yeast is… plant, or animal. He home brews beer, so yeast is needed. I was working as a Living History actor, and trying to make bread. Sister finally yells from the other room, “It’s a fungus!” Effectively ending the debate

[@raginplayer2665]

The fungi probably grew smaller given the fact that more vascular plants were growing, and that they probably adapted to not spread their massive lengths of hyphae throughout the landscape knowing more plants would grow and die then decompose

[@nycbearff]

The biggest living thing is a fungus - it permeates the ground for hundreds of acres. It doesn't put up a big fruiting body, though. And fungi enable a lot of plants to thrive, they form symbiotic nutrient systems. So they certainly spread massive webs of hyphae through the soil in lots of places.

[@Raakhushili]

We need a video covering the Great Dying in detail. Or elephant evolution, I just want to know more about the mammoth, the mastodon, or the platybelodon and its weird mouth.

[@TadaGanIarracht]

yeah The Great Dying would be a great video, you could cover a bunch of cool ideas and theories about the cause, a giant Gamma Ray Burst, Siberian Volcanic Traps etc

[@Keys879]

"OF Flash Frozen Mammoths" you're welcome.

[@soonny002]

I had the picture of a two-storey tall mushroom that dinosaurs and other animals hid under during the rain... or when they were waiting for the bus.

[@nightsmanasdf9058]

Circe mad girl.🤤

[@windhelmguard5295]

I had the picture of an ancient wizard living inside one.

[@Holy_hand-grenade]

Circe lol. T. rex tripping balls.

[@NicolasGomez-dn3oy]

My prayers go to the unfortunate person that accidentally sits on that mushroom

[@shmooveyea]

The only explanation for fungi not destroying us all is that we evolved in ITS world.

[@davesing]

A favorite anecdotal axiom I've adhered to is that all life on Earth is a ~3 billion-year continuous experiment performed by bacteria and fungi. Humans are a very recent and brief emergent property of this experiment.

[@JoshuaHillerup]

I want to know about how plants evolved from whatever they evolved from. I tried reading Wikipedia about it but it was very confusing.

[@duhduhvesta]

Joshua Hillerup ditto

[@duhduhvesta]

+

[@proximacentauri8038]

tiffany norris Grand Dad

[@proximacentauri8038]

Chuck Norris is my spirit animal

[@alfonsogiampollo5153]

they started as spore bearing little bean sprouts basically. that's like the simplest land plant to come around. from there ferns (gymnosperms/sporebesring) basically ruled, until flowering pollen plants came around after s while. angiosperms

[@Lippdinos]

Such an awesome series of documentaries! I loved discovering these new facts. Thanks!

[@CMichaelEH]

if they aren't lichen(-like), then what is the reason they got so large? what selective pressures would cause that?

[@CMichaelEH]

but how would the size NOT be a detriment if it didn't also increase surface area for photosynthesis - esp at that magnitude of increase?

[@ProfessorPolitics]

To tack on to what EvilMachine said, you have to think less about what factors caused X to happen and more about what factors wouldn't impose a cost/would confer a competitive advantage. There are a lot of animals with vestigial organs, for example. There's nothing in the environment that provides an advantage for them. Rather, there's nothing that imposes a cost for having them.

[@スノーハッピー]

Possibly further spore-spreading ability. Could also be a side effect (due to particular developmental pathways) of growing large fields of hyphae that wasn't detrimental. Could also have unknown symbiotic relationships with certain other organisms that made it beneficial to be large. Or they could actually be lichen, as you wondered.

[@practicaloccultist231]

Maybe because it had a symbiotic relationship with another organism in which an tall size is necessary like perhaps that large structure gave more surface area allowing bugs to live and defend the fungus. Edit: Tall size would also allow spores to travel longer distance.

[@CMichaelEH]

Thanks, guys, this is really interesting. It's great to be able to watch an informative video and then have an informative conversation -- like an extension of school (in a good way!)

[@IXSICNESS]

My favourite thing about this channel is the respectful and insightful comment section

[@charlesburdine8844]

That's a great idea! They should have one. ;-)

[@kilroyishere6190]

The largest organism on earth is a fungus growing in the soil in Oregon...its Many square miles in size.... I once read that some believed Fungus was Extraterrestrial in origin ,one point was the human digestive system does not recognize them as food..

[@ric21122]

Almost sounds like part of some higher power master plan. “Planet Terraforming - step #347,674 - Introduce fungi for soil production”