

So, Tilly’s brief science lesson in this latest Discovery episode is, at least, on point. And while he harbors doubts about the mycelium network, he does acknowledge, “In this sense, they link death and life.” Stevani is a researcher who specializes in bioluminescent fungi. “Fungi are responsible to recycle decaying plants and animals in nature Cassiau V Stevani tells Inverse. Its fungal roots, or mycelium, fanned out into infinity across the universe to form the mycelial network. The species was composed of exotic material found not only in normal space but also in a discrete subspace domain known as the mycelial network. While talking to Saru about Stamet’s coma, Tilly says “ Fungi are the only organism with the biological aptitude to link death with life.” Star Trek: Discovery - Stamets Explains The Spore Drive. Prototaxites stellaviatori was a species of fungus, casually described as a mushroom. But that doesn’t mean the show is just totally making up science to push its plot forward. 'Star Trek: Discovery' was an action-packed episode this week for the shows midseason finale, featuring Klingon fighting (both by ship and by hand), and lots of use of the spore drive. While the character of Stamets is named for a real-life mycologist, the idea of using a mushroom superhighway to jump around in space is highly speculative at this point. Earlier in the season, Stamets injected himself with DNA from a gigantic tardigrade in order to interface with the spore drive, which supposedly allows the crew to interface with a “mycelium network” allowing them to traverse space quicker than old-school warp drive. After using the ship’s fanciful “spore drive,” to accidentally bring the starship Discovery to a parallel dimension, Stamets has been in a coma. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) back from the brink of death. Though being trapped in a viscous alternate reality is the primary concern of most of the crew on Discovery, in this episode, Tilly is preoccupied with bringing Lt. Mild spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery season 1, episode 11, “The Wolf Inside.” And her statement, minus the sci-fi application in the episode, is fairly scientifically accurate. In Sunday’s most recent episode of Star Trek: Discovery, Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) talks about the connection between fungi and death.

Traveling between different dimensions might not be possible using biological spores, but Star Trek does get one thing right about fungi.