NunyaBidness on Nostr: Synapse or Mycopse? A synapse is a junction between neurons. As nerve impulses travel ...
Synapse or Mycopse?
A synapse is a junction between neurons. As nerve impulses travel to the end of one neuron, chemical neurotransmitters jump from the end of the neuron to the next neuron. As the receptors on the next neuron engage with these chemicals they induce an impulse that then travels the length of that neuron. This is how information is transmitted across neural networks.
Junctions also exist between fungal hyphae and plant cells. In the case of endomycorrhizae the hyphal tip pushes against a plant cell wall in the root. The cell wall collapses inside of the plant cell and the hyphae nests inside. Between the hyphal membrane and the plant cell wall a gap is maintained much like the gap (junction) between neurons.
This gap is where chemical substances are exchanged like sugars, nutrients, water etc. Something else is exchanged: the amino acids glutamate and glycine. Both are the most common neurotransmitters in animal brains and spinal cords and both are major signalling molecules in plants.
The mere suggestion that plants and fungi are co-conspirators in a networked "thought machine" beneath our feet would be laughable were in not for this compelling argument that they might.
#alexandria
A synapse is a junction between neurons. As nerve impulses travel to the end of one neuron, chemical neurotransmitters jump from the end of the neuron to the next neuron. As the receptors on the next neuron engage with these chemicals they induce an impulse that then travels the length of that neuron. This is how information is transmitted across neural networks.
Junctions also exist between fungal hyphae and plant cells. In the case of endomycorrhizae the hyphal tip pushes against a plant cell wall in the root. The cell wall collapses inside of the plant cell and the hyphae nests inside. Between the hyphal membrane and the plant cell wall a gap is maintained much like the gap (junction) between neurons.
This gap is where chemical substances are exchanged like sugars, nutrients, water etc. Something else is exchanged: the amino acids glutamate and glycine. Both are the most common neurotransmitters in animal brains and spinal cords and both are major signalling molecules in plants.
The mere suggestion that plants and fungi are co-conspirators in a networked "thought machine" beneath our feet would be laughable were in not for this compelling argument that they might.
#alexandria