What’s faster: A bullet or the fungus Pilobolus? The folks over atEarth Unplugged are back to give us a rare look at one of the fastest things on the planet, which—surprising as it may seem—is none other than this poop-loving fungus.
Here, though, we’re talking fastest in terms of acceleration. Because though each spore may only reach 20km per hour when it blasts off of its feces fortress, it gets there in just two microseconds, or 2.0e-6, giving it an acceleration of 20,000G. That’s about the equivalent of human being launched at 100 times the speed of sound. Pretty impressive for such humble beginnings—or any beginnings, for that matter. [Earth Unplugged]
