El Micelio — The Simbiosis Blog

FungiFacts
Mycelium and carbon capture: the invisible accounting under the forest
Why the type of mycorrhizal fungus that dominates a forest determines how much carbon that forest is able to retain underground — and what global science says about it. Read more...
FungiFacts
Mycoprotein: the fungus that became a protein source
How a fungus cultivated in bioreactors since the seventies became a protein source backed by clinical trials. Read more...
FungiFacts
Fungal bioluminescence: the fungi that glow in the dark forest
Only 71 species of fungi glow in the dark. Recent science has deciphered both the biological clock that regulates their light and the complete chemical pathway behind it. Read more...
FungiFacts
Armillaria ostoyae: the largest organism on the planet lives under your feet
The largest individual organism ever documented on Earth is neither an animal nor a plant: it's a fungus that covers nearly 10 square kilometers beneath an Oregon forest. Read more...
FungiFacts
Plastic-eating fungi: degraders of synthetic polymers
From an Amazonian fungus that grows without oxygen on polyurethane to a landfill isolate in Pakistan: the real science behind plastic-degrading fungi. Read more...
FungiFacts
Yeasts and the Fuel of the Future: Microscopic Fungi as Refineries
How genetically modified yeasts convert waste cooking oil into molecules almost identical to aviation fuel. Read more...
FungiFacts
Mycomaterials: when mycelium becomes leather, packaging, and bricks
From vegan leather grown in five days to 3D-printed building blocks: the science behind mycelium-based materials. Read more...
Historia y Etnomicología
Koji: The domesticated fungus that became Japan's national fungus
Aspergillus oryzae, domesticated from a toxic relative two thousand years ago, is the biological basis of sake and soy sauce — and since 2006 the official national fungus of Japan. Read more...
Historia y Etnomicología
Yartsa gunbu: the Himalayan fungus worth more than gold
A parasitic fungus of Himalayan caterpillars became the economic mainstay of rural Tibetan families, providing up to 90% of their annual cash income. Read more...
Historia y Etnomicología
Mayan Mushroom Stones: The enigma carved in stone three thousand years ago
More than one hundred mushroom-shaped stone sculptures, some almost three thousand years old, document a possible Maya and pre-Classic ritual cult—though their exact interpretation remains debated. Read more...
Historia y Etnomicología
Mycophilia vs. mycophobia: the concept invented by the Wasson couple
The Wassons formalized in 1957 the distinction between mycophilic and mycophobic cultures—a concept that current science shows to be much more complex than a simple black and white. Read more...
Historia y Etnomicología
Ergotism and St. Anthony's Fire: When a Fungus Terrorized Europe
St. Anthony's Fire, which terrorized Europe for centuries, was actually ergotism: poisoning by a parasitic fungus of rye, Claviceps purpurea. Read more...