Our planet's personal space heater is incredibly efficient. Our sun is a fairly average star in the Milky Way—not the brightest, not the biggest, and only 4.5 billion years old. It’s only unique in that its light and heat sustains all the life on the only inhabited planet we know of in the universe. Luckily for us, it didn’t burn out before we showed up a … [Read more...] about Why hasn’t the sun burned out yet?
Energy
The World’s Largest Edible Mushroom Coexists with Termites, Which Is Why It Grows So Big
Most edible mushrooms are tiny, but there is one species in West Africa, as well as Zambia, that dwarfs all others. The Termitomyces titanicus is highly revered in Zambia, where mushroom-gathering is an integral aspect of life. While the world’s largest fungus (and organism) is Armillaria, which is now eating 1,000 hectares of Oregon, Termitomyces titanicus is the world’s … [Read more...] about The World’s Largest Edible Mushroom Coexists with Termites, Which Is Why It Grows So Big