Science Shorts

Beneath our feet lies a mystery. A complex underground network of mycorrhizal fungi keeps our ecosystem alive by exchanging nutrients and carbon with almost all plants on Earth. Remarkably, no one quite knows how these advanced and age-old systems operate, and how they are affected by climate change.

The Underground Astronaut follows evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers, named one of the 2022 TIME100 Next Innovators, on her quest to map the world’s fungi networks and understand their behaviour before it’s too late. A fragrant and high-stakes journey into the soil. 'No fungi, no future.'

The Underground Astronaut is part of Ammodo Docs, a series of short documentaries about original minds in arts and science.