State of the World's Fungi | Hacker News Reader

State of the World's Fungi

kew.org

133 pointssohkamyung34 comments

This is the actual link to the report website: https://stateoftheworldsfungi.org/

The current one points to some weird subpage of a funding institution with a short video that must have some concrete connection to whoever does the video scripts at facebook.

Mycorrhizal Fungi is rapidly becoming a pretty common addition to any garden or ag operation. It's great to see. There's a whole other green revolution waiting for us when we tap into more targeted architecting of microbiological environments, for which fungi are supremely helpful. Mycorrhizal fungi are effectively the irrigation for many microbial communities underground.

The kingdom of fungi, really astonishing that they can survive completely independently of other life and further setup relationships with living creatures from other kingdoms so making life possible on land etc etc. I just came from Kew Gardens, wish I knew about their fungi collection before left London

I think the collection is not open to the public, rather for scientists/researchers. I'm there every other weekend and have never seen it highlighted/advertised for visiting.

Thanks now I dont feel so bad :)

Can fungi survive completely independent of other life?

All fungi I'm aware of (like humans) are heterotrophs (meaning they can't make their own food from raw materials) but must consume something that is (or was) living to survive.

Amazingly certain fungi break down rock and extract the nutrients, I tried to find a good article but they were behind firewalls, this is something though http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/iron-eating-fungus-di... Further origional life on land was fungi, it was the symbiosis of algae and fungi that evolved into the first plant

I just heard that we evolved from mushrooms on the Paul Stamets talk with Joe Rogan but I can't find an evolutionary tree (including the one in the Kew report) that shows this clearly. Do you have any references you could share?

Some mushrooms have gastrointestinal healing effects and others help repair/rebuild neurons. It seems most of the studies have been done in rats, when searching google scholar.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096399690...

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/492976/abs/

Many mushrooms have medicinal properties. Lion's Mane promotes BDNF, neural regeneration, remyelination. Others like Maitake, Turkey Tail, Chaga, Cordyceps, Shiitake, and Reishi support the immune system in incredible ways.

Here's my favorite study showing a blend of Turkey Tail and Reishi eliminating high-risk (oncogenic) HPV in 88% of subjects vs. 5% control in a 2-month period:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25271984

Mushrooms are no joke.

> Fungi are incredible - from healing humans

Does anyone know of an overview of evidence-based treatments based on fungi?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin

There's a bunch of stuff coming out recently about using psylocibin and LSD (which is itself synthesised from a fungus) for treatment of many things from PTSD to addiction and other mental illnesses.

A good starting point is the Beckley Foundation - http://beckleyfoundation.org/

Also cyclosporine. Without that there would be no organ transplants. And LSD, without which there would be no psychiatric drugs. The top 3 most important drugs of the 20th century all came from fungi.

LSD does not come from fungi. It is derived from lysergic acid from the ergot fungus (the reason why witches have brooms - check it out), but it is synthesized

Lysergic acid related compounds are not unique from fungi tho. LSA is found in some botanical species like morning glory.

But I digress

Right the fungi doesn't actually produce LSD, but it's still usually described as a semisynthetic drug just based on the original synthesis.

>And LSD, without which there would be no psychiatric drugs.

[citation needed]

Before LSD, it wasn't widely believed that brain chemistry had any effect on the mind. It was LSD that created the framework that allowed for things like antidepressants and whatever. Can't remember any specific books about this right now, but I know there are several.

I think you are correct. This might help: https://maps.org/news-letters/v23n1/v23n1_p20-23.pdf

Paul Stamets is the foremost Mycologist in the world and holds several patents for his ongoing work.

https://patents.justia.com/inventor/paul-stamets

I think Paul Stamets is going to be one of those genius we will only learn to appreciate after their death. Those pioneers that are so far ahead they get dismissed. His applications of fungi go from medicine to pest control, and probably also touch material engineering.

I sometimes feel I should change field completele and study mycology due to the things I've read and seen from him !

Paul Stamets on the Joe Rogan Experience talking about Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) and magic mushrooms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ

Combining those two with Vitamin B3 (Niacin) supposedly does wonders for circulation or something along those lines. I can only attest that the niacin flush makes me want to rub and massage my body everywhere because it feels so nice and warm.

(Note: long term daily extreme doses of Niacin may contribute to liver problems)

Careful, because the niacin flush could come with a significant core temperature drop, along with unpleasant symptoms like headaches or nausea.

The book "How to Change your Mind" by Michael Pollan has a good profile of him (and several other people and groups mentioned in this thread).

Paul Stamets is incredible. Don't miss the many youtube videos and podcasts with him. Every single one will blow your mind.

I've read several things talking about shitake and reishi (sp?) mushrooms being used for treating sickness, perhaps helping the body fight viruses or bacteria faster than it would without. I am leaning towards seeing this in TC< (traditional Chinese medicine) things, but could have been in the book 'prescription for nutritional healing' -

having solid references for western studies would take some digging. I think the effects are similar to garlic?

It's been a while since I've read that info.

Interesting book I picked up recently called Radical Mycology.

If you're in the neighborhood of Oregon, they're hosting a fungi conference there next month: https://radicalmycology.com/

Also interesting book: Mycelium Running, "a manual for the mycological rescue of the planet."

Kew is awesome (and a nice river trip), but it's a shame that after the first 5 clicks I've got a symposium and some more questions. Anybody got a summary?

This is the actual link to the report website: https://stateoftheworldsfungi.org/

There is also an infographics site: https://stateoftheworldsfungi.org

No, that is the main site, it hosts the full report: https://stateoftheworldsfungi.org/2018/reports/SOTWFungi_201...

The link by OP posts to the project showcase page at Kew.

Nitpick: the gardens are in a place called Kew - it's not an acronym:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kew

fixed

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