Wood Wide Web

The expression ‘wood wide web’ was coined by the forester Dr Suzanne Simards, after many years of personal research facing considerable intellectual opposition to the idea. She established that the network of mycelium of fungi growing symbiotically with the tree root systems creates an intelligent communication system which allows trees ‘to talk to each other’, often regardless of their species, creating a mutually beneficial woodland community.

It is already possible, with the right equipment, to listen to the roots communicating with each other. Is it too far-fetched to consider that through our dependence on trees to capture carbon from the atmosphere to fight climate change, we could be prepared to spent considerable scientific resources to discover a way to understand these messages; much as during the 1940’s breaking the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park was considered of paramount importance in our war effort.

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