Fungus!

Fungus, bacteria and mold, oh my!  While dining out at Barley Bros last night, Trish and I had a brief discussion about these little critters. It got started because a woman at a nearby table was browsing the menu, and said she didn't like mushrooms.  Mushrooms are a type of fungus, you know.

Trish and I love mushrooms.  That's not to say we're flaming fungus fans, flagrantly flaunting our fondness for the full fungus family.  Ogaricus bisporus (common mushrooms) are great but onychomycosis (toenail fungus) not so much.  Even the best of families have the occasional black sheep.

Our discussion continued with me wondering out loud if fungus and mold were related.  Is one a subset of the other?  Are they siblings?  Are they totally unrelated?  Awfully heavy stuff for casual dinner conversation but what can you do?  My ever-curious mind is constantly compelling me to boldly go where no man has gone before (unless they were really, really bored).  And, of course, I am further compelled to memorialize those strange odysseys here on my blog.

Mold and mildew are indeed members of the fungi family, as is yeast.  Fungi are neither plant nor animal.  They're an entirely different life form called planimal (not really, just made that up, gotta call 'em something).  Fungi have their own kingdom,1 of the 6 biological kingdoms that include all life forms.

Bacteria are so plentiful and diverse that they have 2 kingdoms, and also the distinction of being the first living thing on earth.  Bacteria biomass on earth exceeds the combined total of all plants and animals. Prolific little buggers.

Viruses don't have their own kingdom, nor are they a member of any other kingdom.  In fact, biologists claim that viruses are non-living particles because they have no cells. They must attach themselves to a host cell to reproduce.  Try as you might, you can't kill a virus.  You can't kill something that was never alive in the first place.  But: you can kill the host cell.  That's reassuring for chest cold sufferers: simply remove your lungs and you're good to go.