SpongeBob Mushroom

This was my science fact during roll call. See, I work in a science centre, so every morning before daily operation starts, we will have a morning roll call for the day. And each roll call, there will be a brief presentation around 3 minutes on a science fact.

So that day was my turn. Since I'm quite fascinated by new discoveries, so I searched for articles in the National Geographic website and found something extraordinary.

It seems that a Professor from San Francisco State University, Dennis Desjardin, had found a new species of mushroom, in Lambir Hill, Sarawak, Malaysia. This mushroom is named Spongiforma squarepantsii, and its shape is like a sea sponge. I guess that's how they get to name the mushroom, after the most famous under-the-sea cartoon character, Spongbob Squarepants.

Basically, Spongiforma squarepantsii, is a fungus that lives in a rainforest, and has a bright orange colour. According to Professor Dennis Desjardin, the mushroom has a 'fruity of strongly musty' smell and will also change colour if a strong chemical base is sprinkled on top of it. How cool is that? A mushroom that smells and acts as a base indicator.

You can check out the picture of Spongebob Mushroom under a scanning electron microscope here.