Could fungal pathogens outsmart us before we find ways to combat them?
Humans and fungi share nearly 50 percent of the same DNA. Because we're related, designing drugs to combat the varieties that attack us is a challenge. Meanwhile, in an ever hotter, wetter world, fungi may be finding new ways to thrive, queueing up global outbreak potentials for which no vaccine and woefully few medications exist; some fungi are already beginning to resist treatment. Among other lifeforms, bats, amphibians, and essential crops are also increasingly threatened by these pathogens.
Enter fungal kingdom frontiersman Dr. Arturo Casadevall, an epidemiologist, professor, and inventor. Casadevall shares how the 1990s AIDS epidemic's fungal complications drove his medical mycology work, how COVID-19's fungal incidences underscore the continuing threat to the immunocompromised, and how he and his Johns Hopkins University laboratory team are discovering ways to counter the threats posed by these cunning, hungry combatants.
What If Fungi Win? describes the beneficial roles of fungi along with their mischievous and deadly impacts and illustrates how committed experts like Casadevall are researching ways to save us and our food supplies. In addition to an overview of blights, lichens, molds, mushrooms, rusts, and smuts, readers will learn about:
- how fungi proliferated following the mass dinosaur extinction
- Oregon's ancient 2,384-acre Armillaria ostoyae--Earth's largest organism
- the rye fungus ergot that may have fueled the Salem witch trials
- mushrooms used to create vegan leather and eco-friendly packaging, as well as plastic-consuming fungi
- why it's critical that funding institutions pay attention to fungal risks and aid scientists in their work.
The hidden role of fungi inside and all around us
From beneficial yeasts that aid digestion to toxic molds that cause disease, we are constantly navigating a world filled with fungi. Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines explores the amazing ways fungi interact with our bodies, showing how our health and well-being depend on an immense ecosystem of yeasts and molds inside and all around us. Nicholas Money takes readers on a guided tour of a marvelous unseen realm, describing how our immune systems are engaged in continuous conversation with the teeming mycobiome inside the body, and how we can fall prey to serious and even life-threatening infections when this peaceful coexistence is disturbed. He also sheds light on our complicated relationship with fungi outside the body, from wild mushrooms and cultivated molds that have been staples of the human diet for millennia to the controversial experimentation with magic mushrooms in the treatment of depression. Drawing on the latest advances in mycology, Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines reveals what scientists are learning about the importance of fungi to our lives, from their vital role in supporting the ecosystems on which we depend to their emerging uses in lifesaving medicine.Fungi are everywhere. Most are harmless; some are helpful. A few are killers. Collectively, infectious fungi are the most devastating agents of disease on earth, and a fungus that can persist in the environment without its host is here to stay. In Blight, Emily Monosson documents how trade, travel, and a changing climate are making us all more vulnerable to invasion. Populations of bats, frogs, and salamanders face extinction. In the Northwest, America's beloved national parks are covered with the spindly corpses of whitebark pines. Food crops are under siege, threatening our coffee, bananas, and wheat--and, more broadly, our global food security. Candida auris, drug-resistant and resilient, infects hospital patients and those with weakened immune systems. Coccidioides, which lives in drier dusty regions, may cause infection in apparently healthy people. The horrors go on.
Yet prevention is not impossible. Tracing the history of fungal spread and the most recent discoveries in the field, Monosson meets scientists who are working tirelessly to protect species under threat, and whose innovative approaches to fungal invasion have the potential to save human lives. Delving into case studies at once fascinating, sobering, and hopeful, Blight serves as a wake-up call, a reminder of the delicate interconnectedness of the natural world, and a lesson in seeing life on our planet with renewed humility and awe.
Of all the groups of wild mushrooms, none have engendered more enthusiasm and affection than the boletes. Their inherent beauty, abundance, and, for many, culinary appeal have firmly established them in the hearts of mushroom hunters around the world. The habitats, geographic distribution, and ecology of boletes--including the intriguing relationships they have with trees and shrubs--only add to their interest.
Boletes of Eastern North America, Second Edition offers readers a comprehensive field guide, providing extensive descriptions and more than 450 rich color photographs. Each species listing includes the most recent scientific name with existing synonyms; common names when applicable; and an overview with field impressions, similar species, and detailed information about habitat, fruiting frequency, and geographic distribution. Updated and expanded from the previous release to incorporate new photos and an improved, more readable layout, this is an indispensable resource for mycologists, mushroom hunters, foragers, and cooks alike.With more than two-dozen contributors and over 450-pages of content Fly Agaric is the most comprehensive book on the iconic red and white-spotted mushroom ever assembled. In the 29 chapters contained herein the reader is taken on a journey through history, folklore, and the magical landscapes experienced under the influence of the Fly Agaric, and its many close relatives. The reader of this book will learn:
Do you want to learn how to grow psilocybin mushrooms at home? Perhaps for microdosing.
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A mycology enthusiast and dedicated cultivator, Bil Harret provides an up-to-date, comprehensive, and step-by-step guide to several methods to grow psilocybin mushrooms. From his experience, he knows just how overwhelming all the information out there can be. Why does mycology sound so complicated? What do all these fancy words and abbreviations mean?
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In this guide, you will discover:
Plus, you'll receive a BONUS chapter that includes the neuroscience behind psilocybin, how to calculate the correct psilocybin doses, risk factors with precautionary tips, and why psilocybin is currently taking the medical world by storm.
How to Grow Psilocybin Mushrooms at Home for Beginners is not just for people who want to learn how to cultivate psychedelic mushrooms. It is for anyone who wants to improve their mental and physical well-being. It is for anyone who wants to feel more of a connection to other people and the world around them. It is for ANYONE who has EVER felt sad, lonely, or desperate.
You will come out of this series of books wishing you had known about these mushrooms earlier. But it is never too late to learn about their magic.
Successful Shrooming
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