A prehistoric mystery fossil has finally been identified as being a 20 foot tall fungus. Originally thought to be a conifer, the carbon diversity of the fossil was too great for it to have been a plant. (Fungi are between plant and animal life in terms of complexity.) The fossil fungus was a variety that became extinct around 350 million years ago. Apparently, before animal life took over the planet, fungi used to rule the world. The tallest trees were only about a meter high, while towering fungi were commonplace. It would be eons before animal life grew large enough to trample the fungi into more manageable sizes. A planet full of giant fungi and miniature trees would be interesting to see. And maybe one day we will see something like that, perhaps on a world such as the one described below.In other news, a habitable planet was found outside our solar system, orbiting a red dwarf. It is a bit larger than earth and has a very short orbital period, but its temperature range would support liquid water. No word on rotation or the presence of an atmosphere. It orbits a red dwarf star, which is larger and less bright than our own sun. Wouldn't it be cool if we ever got to colonize a new planet, and it turned out to harbor life in its prehistoric stages, with giant 20 foot fungi all over the place? Like being an alien world wouldn't be strange enough. Giant fungi! That would really be something.
The nifty illustration is a scanned image of the cover of my 1978 Avon edition of Omnivore. I would credit the artist, but the book doesn't name names.
