Lightning strikes promote mushroom growth

[Jagube]

Artificial lightning strikes encourage growth of shiitake mushrooms – Physics World

Researchers believe that pressure waves cause fungus to produce fruiting bodies

physicsworld.com

This seems to be due to the shock wave produced.

 

[Loveall]

It is interesting. Looks like it is specific to shitake as far as I can tell.

 

[Jagube]

In this study - yes, but it probably extends to other mushrooms and plants alike.

Bizarre as it may seem, atmospheric electricity has long been known to boost the growth of living things, including plants, insects and rats. In 1775, the priest and physicist Giovanni Battista Beccaria of the University of Turin reported, “it appears manifest that nature makes extensive use of atmospheric electricity for promoting vegetation”.

 

[Loveall]

We can put on some strong bass for them and see what happens.

 

[RhythmSpring]

“it appears manifest that nature makes extensive use of atmospheric electricity for promoting vegetation”.

[/quote]
I wonder what Nikolai Tesla would think of that.

BTW, thank you for saying that it probably extends to other mushrooms. Just because a study says one thing doesn't mean we should be closed-minded about the possibilities it implies.

Imagination, it fuels science! Albert Einstein might agree (I'd imagine).

 

[WisdomTooth]

This also applies to plants. Many times after a thunderstorm i notice plants in my garden have grown in a day what would usually take a week or two.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Here's a tangent I'd like to share: the "old wive's tale" that milk curdles during a thunderstorm is a true fact. I have left a cup of fresh (cows') milk outside during a substantial thunderstorm and it completely solidified into a single, tender curd. The milk had not turned the slightest bit sour (as some have hypothesized to be behind this phenomenon) for upon tasting, the curd tasted exactly like the milk did before.

I would hypothesize that the electrical fields from the thunderstorm cause the protein molecules to align and coagulate in a single piece. This implies to me that living organisms will be able to use this polarity inherent in very many proteins to respond to natural electrical fields in various specific ways.

Enhanced plant growth might also be related, of course, to the nitrates that are produced by lightning. Perhaps the electrical response of proteins also allows plants to anticipate and optimize their response to the influx of nutrients. The nitric acid content of thunder rain will cause mobilization of certain nutrients as well, although we shouldn't discount the simple fact that thunderstorms are frequently accompanied by large amounts of rainwater!