University of Michigan Researchers Discover Ancient Fungi Deep Beneath Michigan
A team of researchers from the University of Michigan has discovered 689 kinds of fungi living in water 1,640 feet beneath Michigan, which last touched the surface 11,000 years ago. The study, led by doctoral candidate Quinn Moon and senior author Tim James, found that these fungi thrive in the Antrim Shale, a black, carbon-rich rock layer. The water carrying these organisms fell as rain or melted ice at the end of the last Ice Age and slowly sank into the ground. The findings, published in The ISME Journal, reveal that the deep subsurface is teeming with life, including fungi, tiny worms, and tardigrades. The research challenges previous assumptions about the inhospitability of the deep subsurface for complex life forms like fungi. 
