What a relief! The title of world's largest organism may no longer belong to that creepy giant fungus lying under the ground in northern Michigan. A new, more comely candidate from Utah has been nominated.

It was a shock last April to learn that the dainty mushrooms found on the forest floor in Michigan's Upper Peninsula were but the visible manifestations of a single genetically uniform fungus. It had been extending its tentacles beneath the ground for more than 1,500 years, maybe even 10,000 years, before butting into other underground giants.

That mega-fungus now covers more than 30 acres and weighs 100 tons. And scientists think even bigger fungi may lie undetected elsewhere. Who can blame this page for fretting, at the time, that the fungi might inherit the earth?

Now comes welcome news that an even larger organism has been identified in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. It's a huge stand of 47,000 quaking aspen trees and stems, growing from a single root system, that covers 106 acres, is genetically uniform and acts as a single organism. When the trees change color in the fall, they do so in unison, like the card section at halftime of a football game.