The Mushrooms Will Survive Us (Published 2021) (2024)

FAQs

Has The Last of Us affected mushroom sales? ›

From a business perspective, Dorr says that Mushroom Revival's Cordyceps sales have been boosted, not hurt, by the show. “There's definitely been a spike,” he says. “This is such a shock and attention-grabber that people want to know what the heck we are doing. We definitely have their attention.

Plastics made out of fossil fuels are actually really difficult to recycle and usually wind up cluttering landfills, landscapes, and waterways. Materials made with mushrooms, on the other hand, would be biodegradable and could be reused at the end of a product's life to make more of the same stuff.

What is the 'The Last of Us' fungus? The characters in the show reference Cordyceps, also known as Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a real fungal parasite that's been called the “Zombie-Ant Fungus” because it infects insects and spiders.

While on JRE, Paul Stamets refused to answer a question about portobello mushrooms, saying doing so would put his life at risk.

Paul Edward Stamets (born July 17, 1955) is an American mycologist and entrepreneur who sells various mushroom products through his company. He is an author and advocate of medicinal fungi and mycoremediation.

Fortunately for us, Cordyceps and its relatives have evolved over millions of years to infect specific host species (namely insects and other arthropods) and, as they currently exist, would not be able to survive the higher body temperature of a human.

Now clearly, some fungi have developed the ability to survive at our high body temperature. And maybe because people are warming the climate, other fungi are becoming more adaptable to these higher temperatures and could more easily make the jump into our body. But for Ophiocordyceps, there's no chance.

Those rolls of plastic produce bags can trap moisture, leading to a damp environment that degrades the quality of the mushrooms very quickly. On the other hand, brown paper bags offer the ideal balance of air circulation and moisture absorption, ensuring your mushrooms stay fresh for a more extended period.

The third inner layer has similar qualities and textures to wood. Therefore, it shows promise as a more environmentally sustainable, biodegradable and reusable replacement for paper and wood packaging. A new study finds that mushrooms that grow on trees can potentially replace plastic.

Fungi – a positive force for the future

'Not only can it make clean and healthy materials that are non-toxic and grown on waste from other industries, but it can do incredible things like sense pollution and break down toxic materials in the environment.

Can you eat Cordyceps? ›

Cordyceps mushrooms are generally thought to be safe to eat/consume. Possible negative side effects can include upset stomach, nausea and loose stools. Also, people with certain medical conditions should not consume Cordyceps mushrooms or supplements because they may activate the immune system.

Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, otherwise known as cordyceps or zombie-ant fungus, infects insects such as ants or spiders.

The Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus has just one goal: self-propagation and dispersal. Researchers think the fungus, found in tropical forests, infects a foraging ant through spores that attach and penetrate the exoskeleton and slowly takes over its behavior.

One of the key roles that fungi play in our ecosystem is breaking down organic matter, keeping it moving through the carbon cycle. Over millions of years' worth of evolution, they've gotten pretty good at breaking down very complex natural polymers, like cellulose, one of the main structural components of plants.

The bottom line is that mushrooms generate soil. They are the grand molecular decomposers in nature and the grand recyclers of the dead, whether they are plants, animals, bacteria, or protozoa. First, mushrooms reproduce through microscopic spores.

Fungi are master decomposers that keep our forests alive

“They break down dead, organic matter and by doing that they release nutrients and those nutrients are then made available for plants to carry on growing.” “It's how everything is reborn,” says Dunn.

Mycelium also sequesters a great deal of carbon, which keeps climate-warming carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere (some fungi can store 70 percent more carbon in the soil!).