Fairy Rings

Old myths say that if you ever find mushrooms growing in a ring, beware of treading in it lest the fairies that made them grow that way cart you off!

I can’t prove the existence of fairies, but the scientific explanation is almost as neat. The mushrooms that you see aren’t separate organisms; instead, they’re all connected. Starting from a single spore, an underground part of the fungus called the mycelium grows larger and larger in all directions, making a circle. The mushrooms sprout from the edges of the mycelium.

There are two types of fairy rings. One type grows in lawns and meadows. As the mycelium grows outward, it secretes chemicals that break down organic matter and release the nutrients into the soil. For a short time, the grass in the area benefits from this, but as the mycelium grows to reach the area, it takes up all of the nutrients and the grass dies. The central mycelium eventually uses up all of the nutrients and dies itself, but the outer edges keep growing.
The second type is called a tethered ring. These grow in forests, and the mushrooms grow in symbiosis with the roots of trees. Indeed, they grow ‘tethers’ that keep them connected to the tree roots, thus their name. Both the mushroom and the trees benefit from this relationship.

Fairy rings can grow to be HUGE – several hundred meters across, and can live to be hundreds of years old. One that was discovered in France is almost half a mile across and may be 700 years old!

Fairy Ring Facts

Is there life somewhere else in the universe?

I can’t answer this for certain, but more and more the answer seems to be “probably.” We keep looking in places here on Earth where nothing could live, and we keep finding living things there!

We thought no ecosystem could survive without light to power photosynthesis. But then Robert Ballard discovered organisms living around deep ocean geothermal vents. Whole ecosystems that depend on chemosynthesis flourish in the depths.

Surely nothing can live in boiling, or almost boiling water. I mean, that’s how you sterilize things, right? But in the Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone, we are proven wrong again, spectacularly. Water bubbles into the spring at 160 degrees. For comparison, hot tubs are at or below 104. Your home's water heater should be at 120, so that you don't get scalded. As the water in the spring moves towards the shore, it cools slightly. Different species of bacteria live in the different temperatures, giving the spring its colors. By the way, that brown line on the left of the photo is a boardwalk. If you look closely, you can see people on it.

Okay, what about cold temperatures? Well gallfly larvae and even some turtles can freeze solid! Some fish produce antifreeze. And recently, after scientists drilled a hole through 600 feet of ice, they found living things.

So every time we think we find an environment that can’t support life, we’re proven wrong. So while I can’t guarantee that there is life on other planets, I’d say it’s probable. Life finds a way.

Sliding Scale

Much like I talked about in my Powers of Ten post, it’s very difficult to really understand how small some things are. This website does the best job of any that I have found to truly show you the sizes. If you scroll down to the bottom of the picture, you’ll see a slider. Slide it to the right to go down in size.

Sliding scale cell size

How many

How many...

times will your heart beat in your lifetime? About 2.5 billion

pounds of food will you eat? About 60,000 - 100,000.

calories does it take to run a marathon? About 2,000, which is the same amount it takes just to keep you alive for one day.

times will you breath? About 473 million times

miles will you walk in your lifetime? About 100,000. That's 4 times around the Earth.

times will you be in a traffic accident? The average is once.

times a day should you go to the bathroom? Once for #2. For #1, it depends on how much you drink.

times do you blink a year? About 10 million

people are in the world? As of 10am on March 24, 2010 it was approx 6 billion, 996 million, 70 thousand

people have your name? Well there are 11 people with my name.

Quick Comment

I'm very amused that the ads on this site are currently for Virgin Galactic "an accredited space agency". Yay future!

How big is the Sun?

BIG. No, bigger than that. Seriously, it’s almost unimaginably big.

It’s made of hydrogen and helium, the two smallest and lightest elements. And yet the Sun is 99% of the mass of the Solar System. All the rock of the Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the asteroids, PLUS all of the gas of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, PLUS the ice of all of the comets and Kuyper Belt objects, including Pluto and Eris, is only a measly 1%.

You could fit 1.3 million Earths inside it.

It’s 4.4 million km in circumference. The average human walks at about 4.4 km per hour, so it would take you 1 million hours to walk around it. That’s 41,667 days. That’s 114 years, nonstop 24/7 walking.
The Sun sometimes sends out huge bursts of material, called solar prominences. Here’s a nice one.

But how big is this compared to the Earth?

Great website with pictures of the Sun.

Got Questions?

Do you have any questions that you'd like answered? Something that you've always wanted an answer to? Feel free to post in the comment section and I'll do my best to answer it for you!