LA Mycological Society Wild Mushroom Fair

The Los Angeles Mycological Society (LAMS) Wild  Mushroom Fair is scheduled for February 14, 2010 at the L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. The LA Times (which is quite good at giving coverage to mushroom-related stories and events) says:
Events include: a cooking demonstration; mushroom growing demonstrations; wild mushroom displays; books, collectibles  and art; children’s activities; [...]

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Dario Varisco’s Catalog for Mycophilelatists

No, being a mycophilelatist is not an immoral activity. It’s a term describing one who collects mushroom topical stamps.
There are a small number of people in the stamp collecting world who specialize in mushroom topicals. Topicals are stamps that have specific pictures on them or are themed on a certain “topic” like trains, bugs, war, [...]

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Mycotectural Alpha

In what looks like a potential rival to EcoCradle, Mycotectural Alpha is a construction material made of dense mycelium.  Time magazine mentions it in the article Industrial-Strength Fungus by Adam Fischer:
Mycelium doesn’t taste very good, but once it’s dried, it has some remarkable properties. It’s nontoxic, fireproof and mold- and water-resistant, and it traps more [...]

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Evidence Favors Red Yeast Rice

A previous post (Red Rice Yeast–The Good and the Bad)  discussed the pros and cons of red yeast rice as a substitute for cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Evidence is good that it does in fact lower cholesterol, perhaps even dangerously so if consumed unwisely.
Now a new research study has shown that red yeast rice was as [...]

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Twelve-Foot Diameter Fairy Ring Spotted in Texas

It was a slow news evening in Palestine Texas, on January 20, 2010. News of a  Fairy ring on farm in Pert drawing interest, swept across the big system of tubes known as “the Internets” starting at 8:50 PM (CST) on Wednesday evening.
Though they consider it nature-made, Don Harris and his wife Fran and family [...]

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L.A. Machine Project Goes for Fungal Excitement

Thanks to  tip from @fungalgenomes, we find out about FungiFest at the Machine Project in L.A. Or better to say the L.A. times has an article on it, FungiFest breaks the festival mold. Of course not even the best newspaper writers in the world can resist using fungal puns in their headlines (sigh). There is [...]

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Not Mushroom For Error (I Get It!)

Not Mushroom. For Error, er… Not. Mushroom For Error, uh… Not! Mushroom for Error. Nah…
The heck with it. I don’t get the title, but Not mushroom for error is a full-length article about Gary and Michele Akers who recently started a small mushroom growing operation in Australia.
It has involved a lot of hard work and [...]

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News on Anticancer Mechanism of Cordycepin

According to Scientists discover how Cordyceps mushrooms fight cancer by S. L. Baker, recent research has made progress in understanding how cordycepin, isolated from Cordyceps fungi (Ascomycota), may act to inhibit the growth and spread of cancer cells:
The University of Nottingham scientists found that the Cordyceps-derived treatment has two important effects on cells that could [...]

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Brown Rot–The Enemy of Spalted Wood

A while back I posted a piece on spalted wood, which is favored by woodworkers because of its interesting coloration and patterns.  Finewoodworking.com recently posted an article, Spalt Your Own Lumber: Just Say No To Brown Rot!, discussing how brown rot fungi can ruin attempts at producing spalted wood.
I’ve spent a lot of time on [...]

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Vitamin D Amped Mushrooms Against Alzheimer’s ...

A Dr. Marvin Hausman, urologist, transplant surgeon and founder of Total Nutraceutical Solutions, Inc. (TNS)  is touting a special mushroom formulation to treat a range of maladies including Alzheimer’s. It apparently works in fruit flies.
According to Wisdom in mushrooms, Local doctor believes he may have found the cure to Alzheimer’s disease by Jason Horton:
Recently, through [...]

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The Phylomon Project

Wanna’ trade a Magic Golden Cantharellus for a Purple Entomophagous Bauvaria?
The Phylomon project, as I understand it, is an open source educational card game effort to produce something along the lines of Pokemon cards.
It might stretch the bounds of fair use, but I hope they won’t mind since I enthusiastically want to support and publicize [...]

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Poacher Today, Mushroom Farmer Tomorrow

Good on the man who wakes up one morning and says to himself, “You know, poaching sucks. I think I’ll try mushroom farming.” Apparently that is just what some poachers are saying in Thailand these days (er, sort of, maybe?)
This according to an AFP article (and I don’t know exactly what AFP is, although the [...]

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Interview with the Spore Liberation Front

With a name like Spore Liberation Front, it’s hard to tell what this outfit might be up to. A lot of people might wave their hands and say “they’re just a bunch of  ’shroom heads, who think they can change the world.” Well, they would be right about one thing–they are trying to change the [...]

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Santa Cruz Fungus Fair Rundown

The Santa Cruz Fungus Fair, which took place this past weekend attracted a good bit of press from various outlets (some before, some after). Read all about it:
Fungus Fest celebrates all things mushroom
Thousands of people headed to Santa Cruz, CA this weekend for the annual fungus fair. “The fascination starts with the food thing and [...]

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Santa Cruz Fungus Fair This Weekend

Yes this weekend, January 9-10, 2010. It’s the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair. According to the website some of the highlights are:

Lectures by prominent mycologists and basics of mushroom identification in our popular Mushrooms 101 class.
Dr. Tom Volk, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, a very popular and knowledgeable professional mycologist, will discuss the wonderful world of [...]

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Wikipedia Protects Fungus Page from Vandalism

You have to be a real low life to vandalize a Wikipedia page about fungus. But, apparently that is exactly what has been happening lately. The problem got to the the point where the page had to be protected from editing by new or unregistered users.
According to the history of the Fungus page, this got [...]

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