While we’ve been farming for around 10,000 to 12,000 years, the ancestors of ants have been doing it for around 60 million years. So when, and how, and why did ants start … farming?

The deep red gems have long been found marred with internal markings. Researchers propose a new explanation involving fungal microorganisms who have found a nice place to live. By Veronique Greenwood.

Common fungal infections are “becoming incurable” with global mortality exceeding that for malaria or breast cancer because of drug-resistant strains which “terrify” doctors and threaten the food chain, a new report has warned. Writing in a special “resistance” edition of the journal Science, researchers from Imperial College London and Exeter University have shown how crops, animals and people are all threatened by nearly omnipresent fungi. By Alex Matthews-King.

A fungal parasite that infects ants and manipulates their behavior to benefit the fungus’ reproduction accomplishes this feat without infecting the ants’ brains, according to a study led by Penn State researchers. By Chuck Gill.

What can't mushrooms do? From cleaning chemical spills to mitigating topsoil loss, they're nature's unsung heroes. By Samuel Blackstone.

How an obscure woman mycologist left her mark on fungi. By Alicia Puglionesi.

New research challenges the one fungus-one alga paradigm of how lichens form. By Steph Yin.

Like the deadly pufferfish, wild mushrooms are for culinary daredevils. Care to play Russian roulette with your dinner? By Cal Flyn.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers carry spores of wood-decaying fungi on their beaks, wings and feet, which could make it easier for them to excavate cavities. By Sam Wong.

A fungus offers a complicated lesson in late-capitalist logistics and survival. By Miranda Trimmier.

What has Paul discovered? The mycologist has figured out how to use mother nature’s own creations to keep insects from destroying crops. It’s what is being called SMART pesticides. These pesticides provide safe & nearly permanent solution for controlling over 200,000 species of insects – and all thanks to the ‘magic’ of mushrooms.

One woman's quest to find the fabled fungus said to elicit orgasms in women by scent alone. Is the mysterious Hawaiian mushroom just a myth? By Christie Wilcox. (Feb. 14)

European scientists have gathered tiny fungi that take shelter in Antarctic rocks and sent them to the International Space Station. After 18 months on board in conditions similar to those on Mars, more than 60% of their cells remained intact, with stable DNA...

Five mycological highlights from 2015, including banana killers, rainmakers, and the zombie cure. By Nicola Twilley.

Demand for an aphrodisiac has brought unprecedented wealth to rural Tibet—and trouble in its wake.

A century-long puzzle over how delicate strands of glistening ice burst through rotting tree branches, like heads of hair, is closer to being solved.