Stuff like this keeps on reminding me that it’s really fun to be a biologist. From the NYT article, To the Rescue: Fungi That Invade Also Protect Leaves:

While biologists became increasingly aware of the great diversity of fungal species crowded inside leaves, researchers remained stumped as to what, if anything, these invaders were doing.

Now scientists studying the cocoa tree, whose beans are used to make chocolate or cocoa, say these fungi, which many had suspected were parasites, are actually powerful protectors able to fend off plant diseases. The study was published online in December in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For cocoa tree farming, an enterprise that has moved from country to country to escape the diseases that plague the vulnerable plant, the new findings provide hope for inexpensive and environmentally agreeable ways to protect the trees.

Science, “knowledge through causes,” in action, dear friends.