Yesterday i attended a day of seminars on forestry. As expected tree harvest was the dominant interest, but a few other topics also snuck in. One of the most interesting was fungi. I'm now convinced that fungi research is one of the most important and interesting areas of science today. For example, some researchers are concluding that fungi are the immune system of plants. Some of the medicinal compounds we get from plants may be produced by the fungi as part of their immune activities. All this is so new, that people are now taking plant material and putting small pieces on petri dishes to see what grows. They are finding fungi everywhere inside plants. An old tree can not adapt to new pests, but its fungi can and that is what keeps old trees alive. It is believed that individual trees often have a unique fungi that has evolved just for them. I also attended seminars on turning forest problems into resources. Plants like Scotch Broom and alder were shown to be valuable and it was suggested that foresters stop fighting and look for ways to utilize the material. This was also interesting, but after the lecture on fungi i had trouble thinking about much else. It seems clear to me that the connections between plants, food, people, fungi, lichen, and everything else is much more integrated than the surface suggests. What i would love to see is a shift in science away from commercial, military, and space investigations to things that are important in our life. We really don't understand the world under our feet and we depend on it for survival. This may take a new science or maybe a marriage of ecology with the classical sciences. If i am able to visualize this then so can a lot of other people, so i expect to read more about it in the future. ---------- Jeff Owens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Zone 7, http://www.teleport.com/~kowens Underground house, solar energy, reduced consumption, no TV
