Through their underground networks, fungi physically connect to plant roots, enabling the transfer of nutrients and chemical signals between trees: a system ecologists call the "Wood Wide Web."

Filamentous fungi produce enzymes, nanomaterials, and electrical signals that could underpin a new generation of biosensors capable of detecting pollutants, glucose, and pathogens. Mycelium networks generate structured electrical impulses that researchers are beginning to harness for unconventional computing and wearable sensing devices. A comprehensive review published in Biosensors maps five years of progress across molecular, material, and ecosystem scales, identifying bo