New research suggests that mushrooms may be able to communicate with each other with a vocabulary of up to 50 “words.” We’re skeptical, but who are we to question those who are so wise in the ways of science! Super Mario, what are you doing!?!?
Watch the video and then do the accompanying English language exercises on our website.
The news is a consistent source of entertainment, knowledge and discovery that never ceases to exist and always comes out with more and more material each day. Because it plays such a vital part in our lives and is so important to keep up with, it is without a doubt a piece of your everyday routine that can’t go ignored.
Whether it is to understand the ramifications of recent legislation passed, to hear about recent events and grasp the potential consequences to your country, or simply hear about what is happening in other countries in order to compare them to what’s happening in yours, the news is certainly a staple in our lives and the most consistent way to get information.
This is why Scrambled Eggs has decided to unite two of your biggest worlds: learning English and keeping up with what is happening in the world. We hope our challenging daily exercises, composed of listening, vocabulary and comprehension exercises in English, will satisfy both of those above worlds in a satisfactory and also entertaining way.
So enough about introductions, let’s get to today’s Learn English with the News topic:
Mushrooms | Definition Match
Quiz-summary
0 of 10 questions completed
Questions:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Information
Put the following words to the correct definitions.
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading...
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:
Results
0 of 10 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)
Categories
- Not categorized 0%
-
Nice work! Did you get the result you were expecting? If not, feel free to take the quiz a second time!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- Answered
- Review
-
Question 1 of 10
1. Question
Mind blowing
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 2 of 10
2. Question
Skeptical
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 3 of 10
3. Question
Tricks
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 4 of 10
4. Question
Shroud
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 5 of 10
5. Question
Digesting
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 6 of 10
6. Question
Tips
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 7 of 10
7. Question
Munch
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 8 of 10
8. Question
Scents
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 9 of 10
9. Question
Spikes
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 10 of 10
10. Question
Detect
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
Mushrooms | Fill In The Blank
Quiz-summary
0 of 1 questions completed
Questions:
- 1
Information
Fill out the text below with the correct answers.
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading...
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:
Results
0 of 1 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)
Categories
- Not categorized 0%
-
Nice work! Did you get the result you were expecting? If not, feel free to take the quiz a second time!
- 1
- Answered
- Review
-
Question 1 of 1
1. Question
SPIKES – DIGESTING – SCENTS – SKEPTICAL- TRICKS – DETECT – MINDS BLOWN – SHROUD – TIPS – MUNCH
- For people wanting their (minds blown), the kingdom of fungi is a never-ending box of (tricks). Mycologists studying the underground filaments of fungi are observing electrical signals similar to a nervous system. This is a normal phenomenon, except that they found the signals were remarkably similar to human language. When filaments, called “hyphae,” of a wood- (digesting) fungal species discover a bit of wood to (munch) on underground, the hyphae begin to light up with “spikes” of electrical signals that reach out to the hyphae of other individuals, and even trees. One fungi had a series of electrical (spikes) of almost identical length to English words, while another fungi had spikes even more closely identical to the average word length in the Greek language. Around fifty “words” could be identified based on repetition. Some scientists are (skeptical) that the research was done looking for ‘language’, suggesting that this puts a (shroud) of exaggeration and overexcitement about the findings. To his credit, Professor Adamatzky explained that it could be simply that the electrically-charged (tips) of hyphae were just creating electromagnetic reactions as they explore the forest underground. It is not the first piece of science that suggests life outside Animalia communicates with language. Tree scientist Peter Wohlleben believes trees produce (scents) instead of words, and that soon a computer will be able to (detect) and attach purposes to the scents, and translate them into words.
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
Mushrooms | True or False
Quiz-summary
0 of 5 questions completed
Questions:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Information
Indicate which sentences are true and which ones are false.
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading...
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:
Results
0 of 5 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)
Categories
- Not categorized 0%
-
Nice work! Did you get the result you were expecting? If not, feel free to take the quiz a second time!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- Answered
- Review
-
Question 1 of 5
1. Question
The word lengths were similar to English and Greek.
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 2 of 5
2. Question
Mushrooms may be able to communicate through “language”.
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 3 of 5
3. Question
The professor says, however, they might not be a language at all.
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 4 of 5
4. Question
They use up to 30 “words.”
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
-
Question 5 of 5
5. Question
Trees may do something similar.
Correct
Well done!
Incorrect
Not quite, better luck next time!
And that’s it for today’s English lesson, where you can improve your English with the news and current events. Do you have any comments or special requests for us for the next edition of Learn English with the News? Be sure to leave any feedback you have in the comments section below, as we would love to help you on your quest to learn the English language!
For other Learn English with the News segments, be sure to check out the rest of our posts:
https://scrambledeggsinglese.
Full text:
For people wanting their minds blown, the kingdom of fungi is a never-ending box of tricks.
Mycologists studying the underground filaments of fungi are observing electrical signals similar to a nervous system. This is a normal phenomenon, except that they found the signals were remarkably similar to human language.
When filaments, called “hyphae,” of a wood-digesting fungal species discover a bit of wood to munch on underground, the hyphae begin to light up with “spikes” of electrical signals that reach out to the hyphae of other individuals, and even trees.
One fungi had a series of electrical spikes of almost identical length to English words, while another fungi had spikes even more closely identical to the average word length in the Greek language. Around fifty “words” could be identified based on repetition.
Some scientists are skeptical that the research was done looking for ‘language’, suggesting that this puts a shroud of exaggeration and overexcitement about the findings. To his credit, Professor Adamatzky explained that it could be simply that the electrically-charged tips of hyphae were just creating electromagnetic reactions as they explore the forest underground.
It is not the first piece of science that suggests life outside Animalia communicates with language. Tree scientist Peter Wohlleben believes trees produce scents instead of words, and that soon a computer will be able to detect and attach purposes to the scents, and translate them into words.