Bionic fungi could produce enough bioelectricity to light an LED

For many years, mushrooms have been grouped together or confused with plants.

It was only in 1969 that they officially acquired their own "kingdom", alongside animals and plants, although their distinct characteristics were recognized well before that.

Yeast, mildew and mold are all fungi, as are many forms of large, fungal-like organisms that thrive in moist forest environments and absorb nutrients from dead or living organic matter.

Unlike plants, fungi do not photosynthesize and their cell walls are devoid of cellulose.

Geologists studying samples of lava from a drilling site in South Africa discovered fossilized gas bubbles 800 meters underground.

In April 2017, they revealed that they would contain the oldest mushrooms ever found.

The researchers examined samples taken from rock holes buried deep underground, when they discovered microscopic creatures 2.4 billion years old.

It is thought that these are the oldest mushrooms ever discovered for about 1.2 billion years.

The Earth itself is about 4.6 billion years old.

They could be the oldest evidence of eukaryotes – the "super kingdom" of life that includes plants, animals and fungi, but not bacteria.

The oldest examples of eukaryotes – the "super kingdom" of life that includes plants, animals and fungi, but not bacteria, date back to 1.9 billion years ago. . This gives this sample 500 million more years.

Mushrooms were thought to have first appeared on Earth, but newly discovered organisms lived and thrived under the ancient seabed.

And dating the discovery suggests that not only did these mushroom-like creatures live in a dark, cavernous world devoid of light, but they also lacked oxygen.