Interest in mushrooms is, well, mushrooming. In recent years the utility of mycelium has made these pages numerous times, from the production of infinite-sized mushroom-based leather sheets to word that Dell and even Ikea are looking at it for packaging. Earlier this year we even grew our own mushroom mycelium planter in less than a week.

One of the reasons mushrooms are looking like a good sustainable bet is that, like bamboo, the stuff grows quickly. A mushroom's mycelium roots can absorb water so rapidly that, viewed in time-lapse photography, they don't seem to be growing so much as inflating:

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Those time lapses were shot for the UK's new Planet Earth II series, which is currently only viewable by Britons. We yanks will have to wait until January before we'll get to hear David Attenborough narrate the on-screen wonders on American TV.

If you've not heard of the show, the eye-opening trailer is below:

Via Colossal