Friday, February 29, 2008

Paul Stamets mycologist/mushroom scholar

a man who spends all his time with mushrooms. he has 22 patents and rails against mushroom prejudice. he thinks that there are thousands of uses and applications for mushrooms, from antibiotic and other medicinal uses to terraform planets "by sowing a mix of fungai spores and other seeds." ways to address global issues:
1. using mycellium to absorb oil (think oil spills!). the mushroms absorbed the oil, killed the smell and attracted other life forms
2. a rare fungus that grows in US forests is being used for flu viruses, defense purposes..........problem these guys only grow in old growth forests
3. used against insects and could revolutionize the way we deal with this..
people are giggling, openly asking if he's a nut or not...did he eat too many of the wrong kind?
4. econol, a mushroom derivative which could be used for energy

"I believe engaging mycellium can save the world"
really really, out of the box stuff in one way, but in another way so cool in its simplicity and the potential!


www.fungi.com

1 comment:

Brian Nettles said...

To some he may seem crazy. This guy is way technical and very much genious. News of what he has found can be done with fungi is incredible. Our government needs to exploit his knowledge and make what he knows a part of our everyday life. Econol could be our future.