Admittedly , mushroom do n’t want much help in convert the world they are amazing . Their malignant neoplastic disease - combat , antibacterial and , yes , even antifungal property are well - documented . Their culinary voltage is no secret . They are beautiful , liberal and can even glow in the darkness . But the true statement is , we are just begin to discover exactly how truly awful kingdom Fungi are , and how ready to hand they may be over the next century in a variety of different way . Will they reverse climate change ? Will they hold on the ascent of drug - resistant superbugs ? Let ’s have a look .
1. Medicine Du Jour
When threaten by bacterium or other pathogen , kingdom Fungi produce powerful defensive enzymes called secondary metabolites . ( Stay with me here . ) These are enzyme packed full of unparalleled antibacterial and fungicidal compounds , and we have long exploited this raw defence mechanics forour own medicine . Indeed , this sort of “ co - culture ” is where penicillin , among many other lifesavers , comes from .
But at least one mycologist , Tradd Cotter , is looking to take the estimation of pinning fungi against bacterium one footmark further . Instead of isolating only the antibacterial compounds find in these enzymes and then synthesizing them as we do now , Cotter is look to find mushrooms that will produce metabolite that themselves , in whole , would be the medicine . One day you may “ course ” a fungus your strep throat culture , for model , and the fungus would produce a medicine designed on the nose for you and your illness — a patient- and disease - specific antibiotic .
“ The way it dissent from modern antibiotics is that it is specific and it ’s something the mushroom cloud is get on demand at a moment ’s notice immediately for what it needs to do , ” Cotter say . This means it could be at least one answer to the rise of the drug - immune bacteria that are becoming increasingly savvy to our antibiotic drug . Pretty swell stuff !
2. Replace Plastic
It ’s no arcanum that plastic are becoming a serious problem in our oceans and landfill , but mushrooms may pose a deeply utile alternative . In his enlightening TED talking , “ Are Mushrooms the New Plastic , ” product designerEben Bayerdescribes how his caller , EcoVative , is using fungi to progress containers that are not only easygoing to recycle but also “ self - assembling . ” By using mycelium — a mushroom cloud variant of a root system — to “ mold thing like you do in the plastics industry , ” you may make cloth that do many , if not all , of the same job . “ And , ” Bayer goes on , “ because they are made of born material , they are 100 - percent compostable in your own backyard . ”
3. Control Garden Pests
Entomepathogenic is not just a fun Bible to say — it ’s is also a case of fungi that ’s predatory toward certain bug , like emmet , caterpillars , termites and cockroach . This could play a mature use in the world of bio - pesticides . The idea is that these mushrooms , like those in the genus Cordyceps , can be cultured in such a way that the offending pest will consume the fungus and become infected . Then it often takes on a certain zombified land — for lack of a more precise description — as the mushroomtakes over the pest ’s facilities . It finally kill the pestis , and then produces a mushroom-shaped cloud of sorts whose spore will seek another similar host . The continue dependency or pesterer will either move away or also become susceptible to the kingdom Fungi .
As more and more of these fungus kingdom are discover and their preferred microbe are discover , there ’s much potency to employ them as a way of eliminating particular pests without indirect damage to other beneficial bugs — an important ingredient these fungi would possess over many current biopesticides .
4. Treat Depression
Despite the fact that psilocin mushroom — yeah , the “ witching ” ones — are relegate by the DEA as an illegal Schedule 1 Substance , there has been a renewed interest in their abilities to fight economic crisis and other mental disorder . As with most brain - bear on issues , is strong to say why it works , though some suggest that it ’s a bit like boot your computer : The psychotropic components of the mushroom reset your head , and the potential of that could be far reach . Beyond clinical depression , there is a body of grounds that suggestspsilocybin mushrooms , when drive under supervising and in the right doses , can facilitate right PTSD , alcohol addiction , clustering headache and more . Of course , please do n’t try on this at home .
5. Eat Oil and Petrochemicals
Well , maybeeaisn’t the correct tidings . Rather , mushrooms have the ability todeconstructoil and petrochemicals through mycoremediation , “ the function of fungi to degrade or remove toxins from the environment , ” as determine by mycologist Paul Stamets . In his bookMycellium Running(Ten Speed Press , 2005 ) , Stamets describes how “ fungi are skillful as molecular disassembles ” and can wear out down many toxin into “ simpler , less toxic chemicals . ”
This has implications all over the worldly concern in a potpourri of different ways . Mushrooms could be used to clean up contamination aroundnuclear reactorsor scavenge up oil color spills . And because mushrooms hyper - accumulate heavy metallic element , they could be used to remove toxins , like lede , from polluted areas . There ’s a quite a little of potential here because untamed fungi are already , as Stamets call them , the “ primary regulator of bionomic equilibrium . ”
6. Sequester Carbon
In a cogitation published inScience Magazine , researches discovered that although tree diagram do sequester some carbon copy when they discharge their leaf , it ’s actually the mycorrhizal fungus they are in cahoots with who do the majority of the sequestration—47 to 70 pct , in fact . But you might contend , “ Do n’t mushrooms create carbon dioxide ? ” These mycorrhizal fungi — that is , fungi that grow symbiotically with industrial plant — are a noted exclusion . In essence , they put the carbon into the soil through their waste after digesting it as food . Of course , this only has the power to help oneself our major planet if we constitute more trees and save more of the ones we have , but possibly these carbon sequestering fungi can act as bonus for us to do so .
