A new and startling discovery shows that hitherto undiscovered yeasts may be part of some lichens.
Photo: Mark Conboy
In a refreshingly good piece of science journalism from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Emily Chung reports on the shocking discovery that some Bryoria lichens contain yeast, in addition to their photobioant (an algae and/or cyanobacteria) and known fungal component. How this went unnoticed for more than century is almost unbelievable; so not surprisingly, not all lichenologists are completely convinced yet. The full paper was published in Science, but you'll have to pay to read it.
