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The Best of Our Knowledge
The Best Of Our Knowledge

Hidden math and a massive fungal network

By Lucas Willard
Published July 6, 2026 at 3:00 PM EDT
Nature Communications
/
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Figures showing the geometry of leaf vein structures for the Chinese money plant                 

The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.

A very common houseplant is revealing the secret math of plants.

And scientists estimate an underground network of tiny fungal filaments would, if placed end-to-end, span 10 percent of our Milky Way galaxy.

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The Best Of Our Knowledge scienceresearchPlantsmoneymap
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Lucas Willard
Lucas Willard is the Executive Producer of WAMC's Northeast Notebook. After joining the station in 2011, Lucas has held several titles at WAMC, including Berkshire Bureau Chief, Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief, and Assistant News Director.
See stories by Lucas Willard
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