mushroom

Here’s one more reason to love a good mushroom: one day, you might be able to make headphones, memory foam for shoes, or even aircraft exoskeletons with it. Researchers just assessed the engineering possibilities with one particularly impressive mushroom and found that it might be able to replace plastic in a whole bunch of different use cases.Using mushrooms instead of plastic could cut down on the mountains of waste humans create. Plastics made out of fossil fuels are actually really difficult to recycle and usually…

At once earthy and magical, fungi not only link us to the origins of life itself but also open doors to alternate realms of consciousness. In Marion Neumann’s loose-limbed documentary, just the latest in a string of films that opine on its enigma, the mushroom can even save the world.Compared with the surreal time-lapse photography of Louie Schwartzberg’s Fantastic Fungi (2019) or the rustic charm of Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s The Truffle Hunters (2020), Neumann’s approach is more free-wheeling and eccentric.…

Fungi have attracted attention in recent years for their potential in aiding our brains' growth and functionality. And no, we're not just talking about the psychedelic ones.The lion's mane mushroom, for one, has long had a reputation for various mental health benefits, with recent research supporting its potential in reducing risk for depression or limiting damage from Alzheimer's disease.In a new study conducted by an international team of scientists, researchers identified compounds in the lion's mane mushroom…

What does nature’s song sound like? You might think burbling brooks, buzzing bees, chirping birds. But for creators at the forefront of experimental tech that lets them make music with mushrooms, nature sounds like the otherworldly boops and beeps of a synthesizer.Musician and former biologist Tarun Nayar never expected his throwaway TikTok videos playing around with the phenomenon called biodata sonification to go viral. He started out by hooking plants up to a modular synth to transform their bioelectrical…

The San Mateo County coroner has identified six of the seven victims killed in Monday’s shootings in Half Moon Bay.The victims are identified as Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach; Qizhong Cheng, 66, of Half Moon Bay; Aixiang Zhang, 74, of San Francisco; Jingzhi Lu, 64, of Half Moon Bay; and Yetao Bing, 43 years, whose residence was unknown. Servando Martinez Jimenez, whose brother Marciano Martinez Jimenez was fatally shot at a mushroom farm by Chunli Zhao,…

Guatemalan workers left in a lurch without pay after the Colorado Mushroom Farm collapsed into bankruptcy are exploring a remedy to regain their jobs and boost the San Luis Valley’s ailing economy: run the company themselves as a worker-owned cooperative. A recent survey by Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center found 80% of the farm workers — who have been struggling since the shutdown of the farm, one of the largest employers in Colorado’s lowest-income area — are interested. But paychecks would have to be guaranteed,…

A Colorado mushroom magnate’s mega-farm that for decades infused fresh fungi into the Rocky Mountain West has collapsed despite receiving $1.7 million in COVID aid — mired in debt, environmental disputes and a federal lawsuit — marooning 100 Guatemalan workers without pay. Some workers for this Colorado Mushroom Farm northeast of Alamosa haven’t been paid wages they’ve been owed for months as company owners explore re-organizing under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in late December. The shutdown may force mushroom lovers…

The psychedelic chemical in “magic mushrooms” may ease depression in some hard-to-treat patients, a preliminary study found.The effects were modest and waned over time but they occurred with a single experimental dose in people who previously had gotten little relief from standard antidepressants.The study is part of a resurgence of research into potential medical uses of hallucinogenic drugs, and the results echo findings in smaller studies of the mushroom compound psilocybin. The researchers said larger and longer…

For indoor gardeners who want to try something a bit more exotic, cultivating mushrooms can be rewarding and FirstBuild's Mella smart mushroom fruiting chamber promises to take some of the guesswork out of the challenge. New Atlas recently got its hands on one and we put it through its paces. Here's what we found.For centuries, mushrooms have been a mystery and often suspected as being something supernatural. Suddenly appearing out of nowhere, they were thought to be the works of the devil, or witches, or lightning, or…

Screenshot: IlluminationAt tonight’s Game Awards, Keegan Michael-Key (the voice of Toad in the Mario movie) introduced the world to the first extended clip from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, giving us a taste of Illumination’s take on the lands of the Mushroom Kingdom.The Super Mario Bros. Movie | “Mushroom Kingdom” | Official Movie ClipThere’s a lot to like here—it’s visually stunning, and the soundtrack is a wonderful play on classic Mario tunes that will flutter the hearts of any Nintendo fan—and over all, it’s a…