Blasting your favorite playlist can energize your workout. The same is true of fungus—although most people might find its tastes in tunes a bit strange. Fungal soil microbes may get a boost of energy from white noise, according to new research that found the microbes exposed to a particular sound frequency in the lab grew faster. Scientists say they hope the findings, out today in Biology Letters, could lead to sonic techniques that spur the growth of microbes that play critical supportive roles in plant microbiomes, helping rejuvenate stressed ecosystems.
“As humans, we think of sound as an airborne stimulus that we hear,” says Richard Hofstetter, a forest entomologist at Northern Arizona University who was not involved with the study. Other animals respond to sound, too. But even plants and single-celled organisms that can’t “hear” can feel the vibrations. “They don’t have ears or nerves,” he says, but they seem to respond to the mechanical energy that comprises sound. “It’s an energy similar to light,” he says.
Hofstetter’s research has shown a mold called Botrytis cinerea, which grows on fruit including strawberries, gets a growth boost from the acoustic vibrations of refrigerators. Sound has also been shown to boost the growth of Escherichia coli. Both these studies used frequencies of a few thousand hertz (Hz), a high-pitched humming sound the microbes seemed to dig. Other work has shown leaf-dwelling microbes that produce desirable flavor compounds in wine made from Syrah grapes respond to music from the Baroque and early Classical eras.
Hellbound and Down 