Archive for August, 2009
The Fort Meyers News Press posted an article on the strange stinkhorn fungus Clathrus crispus. Tropicalia meet the natives: Stinkhorn fungus compiled by Byron Stout appeared on the web on Sunday August 30th, 2009. The name doesn’t mean it is “crisp” but means “curly haired” possibly referring to the rhizomorphs emanating from the egg-like spore [...]
Tags: Clathrus crispus, stinkhorn
MycoRant may behave a little strangely in coming days as a new theme is implemented. The overall look won’t be much different. I really have to hand to The English Guy, who produces the theme (Newsprint 2.3.0), as he has been very responsive to my requests for support. Although the theme is free I did [...]
Tags: The English Guy
Interestingly, the wet weather that has been noted in 2009 in the U.S. has also been prevalent in the UK, leading to the appearance of many mushrooms. The Forestry Service based at University of Limerick in Ireland has produced a new handbook Forest Fungi of Ireland to assist people in identifying local wild mushrooms. According [...]
Tags: Irish mushrooms
They Call Him Mushroom You knew there had to be a carny named Mushroom. Something to do with the hair cut. Infected Mushroom — Its a Band I do like to mention musical groups with fungusy names. I even like to interview them. So far, Infected Mushroom has managed to ignore my interview requests. But [...]
Mycotoxins in corn are produced when certain species of fungi infect the corn. The can lead to problems later if the infection is not noticed and contaminated corn makes into the food supply. Mycotoxins such as aflatoxin, produced by Aspergillus flavus, are carcinogenic. A good article on the topic, Risk of Mycotoxins Associated With Hail [...]
Tags: mycotoxins
The Mushroom Bureau is the British equivalent of the Mushroom Council. It’s the bureau’s job to help sell more mushrooms. According to Mushroom trade body starts search for ad agency by Gemma Charles, the bureau is seeking some help for that. According to the article, “Founded in 1993, it [the Mushroom Bureau] is funded voluntarily [...]
Tags: mushroom bureau, Mushroom Council
MycoRant received this message from a Texas reader: “We have a community garden at 12th and Airportish (address is 2560 Sol Wilson Ave) that we’ve been working at for about a year. I picked up Stamets’ “Growing Gourmet Medicinal Mushrooms” and I’ve gotten really excited about incorporating edible mushrooms in with the other food we’re [...]
Tags: Austin, outdoor mushroom growing
Here’s a selection of recent news and information from the wonderful world of yeast. (Did you know the completed yeast genome sequence was announced in 1996?) Wine Yeast Unique New Zealand Wine Yeasts Discovered comes from the Voxy News Engine. “Scientists from the University of Auckland have discovered a unique group of New Zealand yeasts [...]
Tags: fission yeast, longevity, Marmite, wine, yeast
Canadian documentary film maker Robert Mann, is distributing his recent production “Know Your Mushrooms” on USB flash drive. The film will also be available on DVD in September, 2009. According to one report, the first edition of the USB version is already sold-out, with another production run in the works. The film follows events and [...]
Tags: know your mushrooms
A vote by members of the California-based Mushroom Council has lead to a reapportioning of the membership to reflect geographic changes in mushroom production. A brief notice, Mushroom industry approves GAP changes to marketing order by Andy Nelson, appears at The Packer. You can tell a lot about where mushroom growing occurs in the U.S [...]
Tags: Mushroom Council, mushroom growing
A website featuring posts and blogs on green technology has posted an article about the genetic manipulation of a common fungus Trichoderma reesei, in order to develop biofuels. Scientists Force Fungus to Have Sex to Create Biofuel by Brian Nelson appears at CleanTechnica.com. The methods described seem to be good old fashioned selective breeding—not genetic [...]
Tags: biofuel, Trichoderma
I read a book. The book said I should register with technorati. So, I did. Updated my profile at LinkedIn today. If you are on LinkedIn and would like to network, that would be great. Please visit my LinkedIn profile and send me an invite! I have run across quite a few people on LinkedIn [...]
Tags: networking, web 2.0
An article in the Indian publication, the Nation, asks if the current high price of wild mushrooms is an indicator of true supply and demand. Could it be because of dwindling forest resources leading to a smaller mushroom supply? Who knows? See Wild mushrooms a symptom of economic imbalance by Wichit Chaitrong. It has an [...]
Tags: India, wild mushrooms
Species of Cordyceps are known for their ability to parasitize insects. The “mind control” implemented by some species over ants is truly amazing. A new study published in The American Naturalist has shed new light on just how amazing this phenomenon truly is. A post at Eureka Alert, Parasite causes zombie ants to die in [...]
College students, who apparently are rather stupid (at least for the first five years of their post-secondary education) are reminded not to eat moldy food back at the dorm this Fall. If you are unconvinced of the wisdom of this advice, you can check out Student Diet 101: Don’t Eat Mold, by Madison Park, which [...]
The wet weather of 2009 has led to increased incidents of suspected mushroom poisoning of horses. This according to Toxic Mushroom Risk for Horses in Kentucky Pastures Due to Wet Weather, from The Horse.com. The information in the article was provided by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. An excerpt: “Mushrooms appear to be [...]
Tags: horses, mushroom poisoning
MycoRant has received three books for review, courtesy of Dr. Nicolas P. Money and his publisher Oxford University Press. Two of them are available for independent review (one per person). Whichever one is left after the first two are gone, I’ll review myself. Some minimal qualifications are required but I don’t know what they are. [...]
Tags: books
Make Magazine publishes all sorts of do-it-yourself projects. One of particular interest, Home Mycology Lab by Philip Ross appeared in Volume 07. Back issues of that particular edition are sold out, but if you are a subscriber you can read it online. Or, you might be able to find it at your local library. The [...]
Tags: DIY, Make, mycology lab
The NPR program Fresh Air replayed an interview with the late composer John Cage, who was professional and personal partner of Merce Cunningham, who died July 27th, 2009. Something was mentioned by interviewer Terry Gross indicated Cage was fond of collecting wild mushrooms. Sure enough—he was. I’d like to show some photos of Cage with [...]
The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is on the trail of bat white nose disease (WNS). The article Bats in the attic? MassWildlife Wants to Know, from GateHouse News Service, reports that MassWildlife is asking residents to report bat colonies (ten or more bats) found in houses and other buildings. The data will help [...]
