Fungus of the month , since 1997. Discover the bright aqua
green stain fungus, which turns wood green, and was used by woodworkers in the Renaissance to add natural greens to inlaid wood work. Stinky and obscene
dog stinkhorn fungus (maybe NSFW), like pink wieners growing out of your mulch. And many more,
poisonous,
infectious (warning: gross),
hallucinogenic, with interesting photos and stories, for what he calls "the myco-curious". Bonus:
I survived the destroying angel, an account of what happens if you eat a poisonous
Amanita mushroom and are really, really lucky.
[more inside]
posted by LobsterMitten
on Apr 30, 2011 -
22 comments
Industrial Strength Fungus. At an organic farm just outside Monterey, Calif., a super-eco building material is growing in dozens of darkened shipping containers. The farm is named
Far West Fungi, and its rusting containers are full of all sorts of mushrooms--shiitake, reishi and pom-pom, to name a few. This new application of mushrooms is sometimes referred to as "mycotecture", but the idea of
mycorestoration [TED talk: "6 ways mushrooms can save the world"] is not new.
[more inside]
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates
on Feb 3, 2010 -
21 comments
Soon you may find yourself in the company of mushrooms. If you're curious about them,
Mykoweb,
Tom Volk's Fungi (especially his FOTM section),
Fungal Jungal,
David Fischer's American Mushrooms,
MushroomExpert.com,
BCERN's Matchmaker and the
recently mentioned Roger's Mushrooms are remarkably handy, replete with descriptions and keys for reading up and identifying whether something growing in your yard is
heavenly or
hellish. The North American Mycological Association maintains a
list of affiliated clubs, too, if you want to enlist help in identifying something.
posted by cog_nate
on Feb 21, 2007 -
17 comments
A landmark rigorous
study, 36 years after Walter Pahnke's
Good Friday study ocuments the ability of psilocybin - the chemical in "magic mushrooms" - to trigger mystical experiences. 16 of 24 participants, who had no history of psychedelic use, rated the drug episode (after 2 months) to be among the 5 most meaningful experiences in their lifetime. A longer 40-year
follow-up by MAPS on those who took LSD under the supervision of psychiatrist Oscar Janiger in the 1950s, found qualitatively the same result.
posted by daksya
on Jul 10, 2006 -
236 comments
Treasures from the kingdom of fungi Taylor F Lockwood's artsy, well lit photos of fungi in their natural habitats have gotten very little attention outside of mycologists, but his eye for detail and composition shows a skilled photographer performing in a very specific niche.
Some favorites
posted by klik99
on Jan 16, 2006 -
22 comments
What's That? Sadly, the education of the youth of amerika is declining in more than one way. The other day I was at the grocery store and the checker was unable to identify a portabello mushroom. And no, she wasn't new...and to make matters worse the checker next to her didn't know either. (more inside)
posted by MiHail
on Nov 12, 2005 -
1025 comments
At least four times in the fall of 2002, the president and his advisers invoked the specter of a "mushroom cloud," and some of them, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, described Iraq's nuclear ambitions as a threat to the American homeland... Among the closely held internal judgments of the Iraq Survey Group, overseen by David Kay as special representative of CIA Director George J. Tenet, are that Iraq's nuclear weapons scientists did no significant arms-related work after 1991, that facilities with suspicious new construction proved benign, and that equipment of potential use to a nuclear program remained under seal or in civilian industrial use.
So in regards to Iraq's possession of
the one weapon we can be certain causes mass destruction: the atomic bomb, as
Gregg Easterbrook put it, the verdict is the unsurprising (and unsurprisingly
closely held) nope, not, zero, zip, nada...
posted by y2karl
on Oct 27, 2003 -
21 comments
How mushrooms will save the world "I have a strategy for creating ecological footprints on other planets," says the Johnny Appleseed of mushrooms. "By using a consortium of fungi and seeds and other microorganisms, you could actually seed other planets with little plops. You could actually start keystone species and go to creating vegetation on planets." And the Internet is one big giant 'shroom. Fascinating article on how mushrooms may hold the key to environmental clean ups. And so much more!
posted by archimago
on Nov 25, 2002 -
9 comments
An L.A. restaurateur just won a rare 2-pound mushroom in an
annual "charity truffle auction" in Santa Monica. The winner paid $35,000 for the truffle after a fierce bidding war between a New York-based restaurant owner and Gunther IV, who placed his bids through a subsidiary due to the fact that he is, in fact, a dog. The canine heir to a vast German fortune lost the auction, and the honor of placing the highest recorded bid ever for a mushroom. Go ahead, read it again. This is all, mind you,
before anyone actually got their hands on the giant 'shroom.
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Nov 11, 2002 -
42 comments
Kinoko-ya has stunningly beautiful pictures of mushrooms. (Please don't crash the site, gang; I'm using it for research...)
posted by realjanetkagan
on Sep 25, 2002 -
25 comments
Morel Sightings 2002 There's a fungus among us. Morels are one of the most highly sought-after, delectable wild mushrooms. Each spring, morel hunting goes into high gear in many parts of the country. This site has state-by-state reports. (mine is in MA) You can learn more about these spongy fungi
here and
here. If you do go out foraging for them, just remember...if you don't know it, throw it!
posted by martk
on May 23, 2002 -
14 comments
Typographic Tree. "A small signpost invites users to sing to the mushrooms which sit on top of a 5' tree stump. As soon as a visitor begins a tree begins to grow. Using nothing but the tone and volume of their voice they can control every aspect of the trees growth. It's size, complexity, colour and even the amount of flowers in bloom." I'm not sure why it's 'typographic,' but still very pretty.
posted by Su
on Dec 7, 2001 -
3 comments
