More Than Just Sautéed...An Actual Spore Exuding Superhero!

Discovery Magazine

     I admit it…I was not a mushroom fan but that was before I watched the Ted Talk on “6 Ways Mushrooms Can Safe the World”.  While I wasn’t the biggest fan of mushrooms, I guess most of my experiences were gastronomically focused.

     Thinking about a mushroom as more that something that is either included or excluded on your dining menu is an important step to start with. Mushrooms are not going to save the world by simply including them in your menu, so lets get that out of the way now. They are however far more than just something to eat. Did you know that we are more closely related to fungi than any other organism? We actually share the same pathogens. Giant fungi inhabited the earth at one point, they survived even after  the dinausauer extinction. Mushrooms are virtual superheroes in our ecosystem and they can be called upon to take on many tasks that could actually help get us out of the bind we are in. The 6 examples discussed in the Ted Talk captioned above are noted below.

1. Cleaning Up Oil Spills: The use of mycelium to aid in oil spill cleanup. The fungi absorbed the oil, broke the carbon hydrogen bonds and remanufactured it into carbohydrates.  Not only did this aid in the oil cleanup it appeared to also produce a starter for true recovery by starting a new ecosystem in something that was an oil soaked pile. Insects were attracted to the pile because of the decomposing fungi, birds came to eat the insects, and the birds dropped vegetation seeds and the cycle of life continued.

2. Absorbing Farm Pollution: Burlap sacks inoculated with mycelium become sponges for toxic runoff. This experiment dramatically reduced the amount of coliforms in the runoff.

3. Fighting off Disease: Stamets proved that certain fungi could actually combat illnesses. He found that three strains are highly active against pox viruses and three are highly active against the flu. “

4. Combating Insects: insects can be decimate houses and some fungus-based insecticides don’t work because the creatures know to avoid the spores. So Stamets developed a mycelium that didn’t produce spores. He stated, “The ants were attracted to the mycelium, because there’s no spores,” After using it in his own house, Stamets commented, “They gave it to the queen. One week later, I had no sawdust piles whatsoever.”

5. Re-Greening The Planet: Stamets created something called a “life box” that includes fungi spores that you add to soil, water and cardboard. This box can be shipped or replicated anywhere and it creates a rich environment to plant other seeds, like corns, beans, squash and onions for refugee populations.

6. Creating A Sustainable Fuel Source: mycelium can help us move away from fossil fuel in a sustainable, earth-friendly way. Instead of wasting energy by going directly from cellulose to ethanol, he uses mycelium as part of the process…natural process versus man driven chemical conversion, allowing the fungus to naturally convert cellulose into fungal sugars.

I will never look at a mushroom the same way again. I now see them as natures workhorse and I have a feeling that the list of items above isn't going to stop at 6.