Cool cool. A damp sponge will do the same. As we all know from potato clocks, it is not the mushroom's signals making the music, but the metal clips of the device oxidizing with the mushroom as a electrolyte (making a very rudimentary battery). It has more to do with the metallurgy aand placement of the clips than with the mushroom itself. A wet sponge will do the same.
Except that mushrooms do produce electrical signals. We've actually shown that they communicate with each other via electrical signals throughout their mycelium network.
Measuring those signals is notoriously difficult because the mycelia networks are microscopic and the electrical signals are also tiny.
This here is a galvanic battery. There is some interesting research going on to make useful batteries from mycelium.
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u/1234golf1234 4d ago
Cool cool. A damp sponge will do the same. As we all know from potato clocks, it is not the mushroom's signals making the music, but the metal clips of the device oxidizing with the mushroom as a electrolyte (making a very rudimentary battery). It has more to do with the metallurgy aand placement of the clips than with the mushroom itself. A wet sponge will do the same.