Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

Author:Merlin Sheldrake
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2020-05-11T16:00:00+00:00

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FOR MCCOY, RADICAL Mycology means more than just solving particular problems in particular places. A distributed network of grassroots practitioners is also capable of advancing the state of fungal knowledge as a whole. One way this can happen is through the discovery and isolation of potent fungal strains. Fungi isolated from a contaminated environment may have already learned how to digest a given pollutant and, as locals, be able to remediate a problem and thrive. This was the approach used by a team of researchers in Pakistan who screened soil from a city landfill site in Islamabad and found a novel fungal strain that could degrade polyurethane plastic.

Crowdsourcing fungal strains may sound implausible, but it has resulted in some major discoveries. The industrial production of the antibiotic penicillin was only possible because of the discovery of a high-yielding strain of Penicillium fungus. In 1941, this “pretty golden mold” was found on a rotting cantaloupe in an Illinois market by Mary Hunt, a laboratory assistant, after the lab put out a call for civilians to submit molds. Before this point, penicillin had been expensive to produce and remained largely unavailable.

Finding fungal strains is one thing. Isolating them and testing their activity is more difficult. Hunt may have found the mold, but it had to be taken into the lab to be examined. This was my main doubt about McCoy’s approach. How could radical mycologists isolate and grow new strains without access to well-provisioned facilities? Sterile benches pumping clean air, ultra-pure chemicals, expensive machines whirring away in equipment rooms—surely this was all needed to make any kind of real progress?

I wanted to find out more, so I attended one of McCoy’s weekend mushroom-cultivation courses in Brooklyn, New York. The class was an eclectic mix: artists, educators, community planners, computer programmers, a university lecturer, entrepreneurs, and chefs. McCoy stood behind a table piled high with dishes, plastic bags filled with grain, and boxes stacked with syringes and scalpels—staple tackle of the modern mushroom cultivator. A large pot of water simmered on the stove, filled with gelatinous wood ear mushrooms that we ladled into mugs during the tea break. This was Radical Mycology at its growing tip. Or rather, at one of its growing tips.

Over the course of the weekend, it became clear that the field of amateur fungal cultivation is in a state of wild proliferation. A well-connected, actively experimenting network of fungal enthusiasts are already accelerating the production of fungal knowledge. Techniques like DNA sequencing remain out of reach for most, but recent advances make it possible to perform operations that would have been impossible for amateurs even ten years ago. Most are ingenious low-tech solutions developed by kitchen-sink magic mushroom growers. Many are improvements and tweaks on methods developed and published by Terence McKenna and Paul Stamets in their grower’s guides. Although McCoy’s vision of mycological transformation includes community lab spaces, a lot can be done without them.

The most revolutionary innovation emerged in 2009. The founder of the magic mushroom-growing forum mycotopia.

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