Ep. 27: MushRoaming - Yartsa Gunbu Cordyceps of Tibet & Amazon Adventures (feat. Daniel Winkler)

07/08/20 • 72 min

Today on Mushroom Hour we are blessed to have the opportunity to interview Daniel Winkler. Daniel has been organizing mushroom focused eco-adventures across the world since 2007. His research on different species of Cordyceps has been featured in The Economist, National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, BBC World Service and more.
Emerging from the deep, Bavarian forests we meet a young Daniel who was foraging steinpilz (boletus edulis) when he was only 3-years-old! His academic studies saw him working on environmental and ecological issues and a sequence of synchronicity found him pursuing this work in Tibet. While he applied his training to benefit Tibetan communities, he soon found himself ensconced by the mysterious and highly-prized Yartsa Gunbu - the Tibetan catepillar fungus. We know this mushroom in the West as Ophiocordyceps Sinesis.
Daniel was one of the first westerners to deeply explore this famous zombie mushroom in the 1990's. Daniel will explain the unique ecology of the Ophiocordyceps Sinesis and why "CS-4", the strain that has been widely used in labs for testing medicinal properties and growing medicinal supplements, is likely not true ophiocordyceps sinesis! His fascinating research focused not only the physiology of the fungus, but also the history and ethnomycological implications of its use in Tibetan and Chinese culture. What profound economic impacts has the collection of Yartsa Gunbu had on the people of Tibet? How has this fungus had a massive influence in the diplomatic relations between Tibet and China for centuries?
Vicarious adventure abounds as we join a MushRoaming ecotour and experience the hunt for Yartsa Gunbu for ourselves. This pursuit of cordyceps then continues into the Amazon where an explosion of tropical biodiversity means we find a vastly more diverse collection of cordyceps species, including many that are unknown to science. What are any applications of these cordyceps species that can be found in the Amazon? Are there medicinal benefits that are yet to be discovered?
Thanks for listening and Mush Love!
Directed, Recorded, Produced by: Mushroom Hour
(@welcome_to_mushroom_hour)
Music by: Ancient Baby (https://peckthetowncrier.bandcamp.com/)
Art by: Wyn Di Stefano (http://www.wyndistefano.com/)
Episode Resources
MushRoaming website: http://mushroaming.com/
Yartsa Gunbu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_sinensis

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Ep. 26: Entangled Life - How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures (feat. Merlin Sheldrake)

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the pleasure of speaking with Merlin Sheldrake, author of the groundbreaking fungal narrative, Entangled Life. Merlin is a biologist and a writer with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama.
Our voyage begins in the fertile jungles of Panama, teeming with biodiversity of all kinds. It's here that we find Merlin studying mycoheterotrophic plants and unlocking the secrets of the seemingly infinite web of mycelium that skeins out underneath the forest floor. His work in Panama captures our imaginations and peels up the edges of many key concepts that pop up again and again through the pages of his book.
It becomes apparent that as our collective understandings of ecology and biology advance, we can no longer examine organisms in a vacuum, without understanding their complex relationships. Fungi so easily embrace this "intimacy of strangers" and have a seemingly unparalleled ability to form entangled relationships with other living things. Why are fungi in particular such potent scions of symbiosis?
Riding tips of hyphae through rotscapes and the wood wide web, we'll marvel at the paradox of mycelium-based intelligence - living labyrinths that are seemingly processing information everywhere at once, and nowhere in particular. It is able to make decisions, it recognizes the limits of its physical form and it can adapt to changing circumstances, all without the help of a brain. Do analogies relating mycelium structures to our own brains aid or hinder our understanding of them? Why should we be careful when we examine fungi through an anthropocentric lens?
Human society has been perpetually guided by fungal influences - both in our physical relationships with them and in the stories we tell about them. When we imbibe or ingest fungi, we participate in this ancient relationship as the fungal consciousness influences our human experience. And whether it was psychedelic entheogens that opened up doors of perception or invisible yeasts that magically created bread, beer or wine, the myths and rituals we developed around fungi also shaped the course of civilizations. How will fungi continue to influence the course of humankind? Where can we find hope in fungal solutions to human problems?
Our wizened, fungal wizard Merlin beckons us to descend into the earth and find communion with our favorite, more-than-human organisms on their terms - and learn something about ourselves in the process.
Thanks for listening and Mush Love!
Directed, Recorded, Produced by: Mushroom Hour
(@welcome_to_mushroom_hour)
Music by: Ancient Baby (https://peckthetowncrier.bandcamp.com/)
Art by: Wyn Di Stefano (http://www.wyndistefano.com/)
Episode Resources
Merlin Sheldrake's website: https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/
Merlin Sheldrake's IG: https://www.instagram.com/merlin.sheldrake/
Entangled Life (Book): https://bookshop.org/books/entangled-life-how-fungi-make-our-worlds-change-our-minds-shape-our-futures/9780525510314

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Ep. 28: Fungi Foundation - How to Save the World by Protecting & Promoting Fungi (feat. Giuliana Furci)

This week on Mushroom Hour we are grateful for the opportunity to speak with our guest Giuliana Furci. Giuliana is founder and president of the Fungi Foundation and has been the greatest advocate for the study and protection of the Fungi Kingdom in recent decades in the country of Chile. She managed to make Chile the first country in the world to include fungi in its environmental impact assessment legislation.
Giuliana's upbringing took her across the Atlantic as her family fled political persecution, but she returned to Chile as a young adult. Already armed with a passion for fungi, Giuliana made a life-changing decision to forgo studying abroad and instead would try to invigorate the mycological tradition in a largely mycophobic nation that did not have any avenues for studying fungi. That brave decision, and her perseverance in her mission to study fungi, has forever changed her country.
After years of self-taught and self-led field mycology work documenting Chile's fungi, Giuliana founded The Fungi Foundation - the first NGO on Earth to be dedicated to promoting the knowledge, appreciation and protection of fungi. The Foundation has now expanded and supports many projects in Chile, but the biggest effort they have undertaken is their work in changing legislation to protect fungi. Giuliana and her team seized an opportunity to change environmental laws and implement a regulatory and enforcement framework that mandates all building projects in Chile must include an analysis of how they will impact local fungi populations, in addition to plants and animals. Chile is now the only country in the world that specifically protects fungi in its environmental legislation. How did they achieve this historical milestone? How does the shift from identifying "flora and fauna" to "flora, fauna and funga" fundamentally change our ecological perspectives as a society?
Leaving the halls of government, we'll try to keep up with Giuliana as she traverses the country for months at a time, hoping to coincide with the appearance of mushrooms. From the Atacama desert to the mountains of the Patagonia, Chile's unique geography makes for an incredible amount of unexplored biodiversity, especially when it comes to fungi! We'll learn to never underestimate the power of an encounter with a fungus and Giuliana will educate us on the proper steps to scientifically document mushrooms we find in the wild.
Thanks for listening and Mush Love!
Directed, Recorded, Produced by: Mushroom Hour
(@welcome_to_mushroom_hour)
Music by: Ancient Baby (https://peckthetowncrier.bandcamp.com/)
Art by: Wyn Di Stefano (http://www.wyndistefano.com/)
Episode Resources
Fungi Foundation Website: https://ffungi.org/
Calvatia Family (Mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvatia
Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Northeastern-United-States-Eastern/dp/1604696346
Mushrooms of California (Book): https://www.amazon.com/California-Mushrooms-Comprehensive-Identification-Guide/dp/1604693533/
Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Redwood-Coast-Comprehensive-California/dp/1607748177/