CLOSED: [2022-01-03 Mon 12:48] SCHEDULED: <2022-01-03 Mon>
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:CREATED: [2022-01-03 Mon 12:39]
:ID: 2022-01-03-fungi-are-no-plants
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- State "DONE"       from "NEXT"       [2022-01-03 Mon 12:48]
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I was listening to [[https://oe1.orf.at/][Ö1 radio]] these days ([[https://oe1.orf.at/programm/20211229/663629/Glueck-Gift-und-Geheimnisse][Punkt eins: Glück, Gift und
Geheimnisse]]) and learned something which I did not know before and
which I probably wouldn't have believed if you told me about it.

Let me quote from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus][the Wikipedia article for "Fungus"]]: (on my own emphasis)

#+BEGIN_QUOTE
A fungus ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural][plural]]: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eukaryote][eukaryotic]] organisms that includes microorganisms such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast][yeasts]] and
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold_(fungus)][molds]], as well as the more familiar [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom][mushrooms]]. These organisms are
classified as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_(biology)][kingdom]], separately from the other eukaryotic
kingdoms, which by one traditional classification include [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant][Plantae]],
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal][Animalia]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protozoa][Protozoa]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromista][Chromista]].

A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants,
bacteria, and some protists is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitin][chitin]] in their [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_wall][cell walls]]. Fungi, like
animals, are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterotroph][heterotrophs]]; they acquire their food by absorbing
dissolved molecules, typically by secreting [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestive_enzyme][digestive enzymes]] into
their environment. Fungi do not [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis][photosynthesize]].

[...]

In the past, mycology was regarded as a branch of botany, although it
is now known *fungi are genetically more closely related to animals
than to plants.*
#+END_QUOTE

Wow, this blow my mind. Fungi are more closely related to animals than
to plants.

You never stop learning.