Or they produce it exactly because animals are entertained by it to spread its spores. Or it's random. Or who the hell knows. π€·ββοΈ
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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Psychedelic mushrooms likely developed their "magical" properties to trip up fungi-munching insects, suggests new research
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180227115548.htm
Scientists. Scientists are who knows.
likely
knows
These conflict.
Right... In the same way that gravity is still only a theory.
No, not in that way.
Yes, in that way. Scientists can't say something is true for sure. You can argue (correctly) that gravity has more evidence backing it up. It's the accepted theory that gravity works the way it does because it lines up with every observation made involving it.
In the same exact way, psylocybin being produced by mushrooms to deter predators (certain insects in particular) comports with every observation made about it and explained with the same theories of evolution that lead to similar results with organisms producing chemicals all over the animal kingdom. Like gravity, it's bad science to say it like an absolute fact, but it's likely based on all available data.
it's likely
So then not something scientists know is true.
I could see that being really bad for something that size.
These things usually aren't random. It takes energy for the organism to make it, so there's usually some evolutionary advantage.
Or they produce it exactly because animals are entertained
Reminded me of this.
Dropped my phone can you help me find it?
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Every time I see this meme or versions of it I die a thousand times. Mushrooms are the penises of fungus who jizz peacefully in the wind. They WANT to be eaten. Spores travel far.
Psilocybin, if anything, is probably adapted to be attractive to other animals.
Moreover, eating the mushroom isn't even hurting the original organism. It's pretty vestigial once the spores have found a way to get out.
Then why are there also extremely poisonous mushrooms?
I dunno I didnβt make em
Just like peppers, a sort of odd evolution when humans come into play.
Peppers devolved capsaicin to keep mammalian herbivores from eating them and grinding the seeds up. Birds have no capsaicin receptors, happily poop whole seeds everywhere.
Along come humans. "Let's grown and refine that shit!"
I've been using one of the hottest sauces I've had in a long time. It's called Satan Revenge made with ghost peppers. I'm in so much pain when and after eating it. It's good stuff.
jokes on you I'm into that shit
I'm into ~~that~~ shit
- The fungus, probably.
Human: I outsmarted every plant with this MO; no toxic plant can defeat me.
Manchineel Tree: Challenge accepted.
"Challenge accepted"
-Unknown person
When ingested, the fruit is reportedly "pleasantly sweet" at first, with a subsequent "strange peppery feeling ... gradually progress[ing] to a burning, tearing sensation and tightness of the throat." Symptoms continue to worsen until the patient can "barely swallow solid food because of the excruciating pain and the feeling of a huge obstructing pharyngeal lump."
Given the medical/psychological benefits being explored, it could even be "Your resistance only makes me stronger".
Slugs: what effects?
The Botany of Desire is a fantastic book and also documentary that discusses, in some part, plants being desirable to humans as a selective force. Plant species that humans value have a higher likelihood of surviving because we use them for agriculture, ensuring their ongoing existence. Everything from tea to teonanΓ‘catl!
βScienceβ
Or those fungi are farming us so we keep spreading and growing them for psychoactive abilities
Millipedes Β·('m toxic, nobody will hurt me", Lemurs "Good stuff"