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http://feedthedatamonster.com/home/2014/7/11/how-fungi-saved-the-world http://feedthedatamonster.com/home/2014/7/11/how-fungi-saved... The period of time is ca

http://feedthedatamonster.com/home/2014/7/11/how-fungi-saved-the-world http://feedthedatamonster.com/home/2014/7/11/how-fungi-saved... The period of time is called carboniferous and it's the time where all the coal we use today was created. > Using a class of enyzmes called peroxidases, the fungus bombarded the wood with highly reactive oxygen molecules, in much the same way one might untie a knot using a flamethrower. This strategy reduced the wood to a carbohydrate-rich slurry from which the fungus could slurp up the edible cellulose.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
>in much the same way one might untie a knot using a flamethrower. I find the fact that the speed is mismatched by many orders of magnitude to be amusing. It's like comparing the formation of a mountain range to a car crash.
- gumby 7y ago
  On geological scale there's not a big difference -- the continents skitter around the surface of the earth like drops of water on a hot skillet.