Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Climate Change and Environmental Issues A Fungus Amungus

I thought that since we have discussed the fungal problems in our gardens and bodies, that there should be a place to discuss fungi and their friends, cohorts, and competitors. Greger even facetiously, I think, suggested that the fungal overgrowth problems could be the result of Roundup/Glyphosate. He may even be right, it was bound to happen sometime
Welcome to A Fungus Amungus!
TAT

Getting back to Fungi,
I was around in Medicine when the first anti-fungal antibiotics (except for Amphot-terrible) were being rolled out for clinical use. It was not long before resistant strains appeared. Some Swedish group was researching the resistance, and went outside to collect some native wild type fungi from their mulch to use as controls. They were very surprised to find that the supposedly naive outdoor fungi already had resistance to the recent antifungals.
This is now attributed to the widespread use of similar antifungals in agriculture. Fungi put out zillions of spores and its easy to spread resistance, that is now seen on all continents that have plants.

We have only been fighting fungal infections with antifungals for less than 50 years, and the fungi are evolving much faster than we can develop new antifungals. Given Fungi's billion year track record of fighting filamentous bacteria for dominance, I dont like our chances against resistant fungal infections in the future!
Add this to the rapid resistance of usual pathogenic bacteria and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, and we are headed back into the pre-antibiotic era clinically.

What have we not FUBARED in our insane race for cheaper production methods in crops and meat?
TAT

I just watched the latest TWIV on Youtube, and it includes a paper that shows EXACTLY how remdesivir works right down to the steric hindrance that occurs three nucleotides after the remdesivir is added to the RNA chain during replication. It even has a movie of that! It takes the place of an adenosine triphosphate, but has a huge triple-bonded nitrogen sticking out on the side, that collides with another part of the replication enzyme. It's like a zipper with a hunk of epoxy on one of the tracks. Stops replication dead in it's tracks. And they even suggest why it does not work 100% of the time!

This is the direct result of getting supercomputers that can work out physical models of very complex components of cells. Stuff like this makes me hopeful scientists will come up with new antivirals, antibiotics, and antifungals in the near future, as the slope of the biomedical singularity gets ever-steeper.

Thats a stiff AZIDE, as long as were talkin durty! C triple bondage to Nitrogen! Packs a lota punch, them azides

TAT!

But beware the azholes, for they art deep as the Blue Sea!

Getting back to fungi...
Triple dog dare escalation

I raise you a Triazole for your Aspergillus fumigatus!

I’ll tell you one fungus I absolutely love, it’s miatake mushrooms. Sometimes known as “hen of the woods.” They are expensive pushing $20 a pound in the stores but I splurge for them on occasion. I just love their nutty woody flavor. As is with CBD oil miatake’s have all kinds of health benefits attributed to them. I am not sure if I believe all of that hype, but as I said, I do love their flavor.

I just sauté them in a little butter and olive oil with salt and pepper. They are delicious. Has anyone here ever found those out in the woods in the wild?

I just harvested a puffball the size of a basket ball. Then I had to decide what to do with the huge specimen in the fridge. Made some puffball chips in the airfryer, but then decided to dehydrate slabs of it. It doesnt have a good mouth feel as they grow so fast, but has excellent schroomy taste. Ended up making the dehydrated slab into powder that is easy to store dry, and can be added to or dusted on anything you want to have some shcroominess in or dusted on. I did the same thing with the dried Porchini schrooms into a pepper grinder.

We do lots of the sulfur shelf schrooms, chicken of the woods. Cant mistaki them for anything toxic, and they feel like chicken!

It’s my understanding that “chicken of the woods” and “hen of the woods” (miatake) are not the same thing. But I will defer to your expertise.

You are correct ding ding ding!
We eat both but you are correct chicken of the woods is a fall fungus sulfur shelf!
Love the hen of the woods too!
Chicken of the woods is also in the fridge. They have a nice bite feel, unless they are a little too old and they get woody but still tasty!