Science and Cocktails is proud to present an episode with ecologist superstar and professor at Cardiff University , author of many books including "Fungi: Discover the Science and Secrets Behind the World of Mushrooms", Lynne Boddy who will explain everything you ever wanted to know about the impact of mushrooms in our lives. All this after the world famous and all-time favorite Orgelheimers plays surf, jazz, and other stuff.

Tickets. Seated tickets are paid. Standing tickets are free and valid until 8pm. This means that you should enter before 8pm and can stay the entire event. After 8pm we let people in on a first come, first served basis.

Why are fungi essential to our existence? Do fungi show behaviour? Can fungi remember? Why and how do fungi fight? Do other organisms affect how fungi behave

When most people think of fungi, the first thing that usually comes to mind is mushrooms. However, mushrooms are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. They are reproductive parts of one main group of fungi. The main body of the fungus – the mycelium - is a network of microscopic filaments that grows in or on whatever the fungus is using for food. Working unseen, fungi are essential to Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems, and without them we could not survive. They allowed plants to colonize land over 450 million years ago, they still feed our plants nowadays, they break down dead plants and other tissues, releasing nutrients and making them available again for plants and other organisms to use, and they form habitat for a wide diversity of other organisms.

In this edition of Science and Cocktails, Prof dr. Lynne Boddy (Cardiff University) will introduce this amazing hidden kingdom, showing the fascinating behaviour of fungi, with the aid of examples from her team’s research on wood-inhabiting fungi. Fungal mycelia are made up of microscopic threads (hyphae), but in some fungi species, these cords bundle together, to build visible, cord-like networks.

Also, many form darkened plates of tissue in wood that mark the boundaries of the territory they occupy separating one mycelium from another, and making it possible to see the structure of their communities in the wood they inhabit. In her talk, Prof. Boddy will explore the behaviour of those species that form cord-like structures growing out of wood into the inhospitable soil environment in a quest for new food sources. They can form large and long-lived networks, spanning many metres and many years.

When fungi find new food sources, they adapt by reshaping their networks. Each species responds in its own way, using distinct strategies to survive. There is even some evidence that fungi have a form of ‘memory’, although it is very different from memory in organisms with nervous systems. In the natural environment, wood decay fungi hardly exist alone and when they meet a mycelium of a different species they battle using enzymes and volatile and diffusible chemicals to kill or inhibit the opponent. In this way, they can maintain the territory they occupy or even expand it, causing fungal communities in wood to change. Mycelia are highly nutritious and are a food source for small soil organisms, which also alters the fungus’ behaviour and success in the natural environment.

The highly networked mycelial bodies of most fungi range from the microscopic to some of the largest organisms on the planet, setting them apart from all other organisms. Combined with their ability to break down some of the most complex naturally produced chemical compounds, this makes fungi not only fascinating but indispensable in the natural world.

Event held in English and with the generous support of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.