
The Year in Fungi - MrJagil
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-year-in-fungi-2015
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brahmwg
Fungi are incredible.

Check out this post about how mycelial networks act as an organic internet for
plant species to communicate.

[http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141111-plants-have-a-
hidden...](http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141111-plants-have-a-hidden-
internet)

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Alex3917
Not included, but interesting, is the fact that wild shiitake were found in
New England for the first time:

[https://mycosymbiotics.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/wild-
shiitak...](https://mycosymbiotics.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/wild-shiitake-
found-in-new-england/)

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krylon
I have to admit I was quite skeptical when I clicked on the link, but this was
a pretty interesting read.

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ZenoArrow
I started finding fungi fascinating after watching this, perhaps you'll like
it too:

[http://youtu.be/XI5frPV58tY](http://youtu.be/XI5frPV58tY)

~~~
biot
Same here. Its potential for both cleaning up waste and as an antibiotic is
impressive!

For those who want to watch in better quality than 240p:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_ca...](http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world)

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contingencies
In the summer I was poking about Europe with my wife and daughter with the
idea of potentially moving there. While in southern France we were struck with
the rather poor selection, relative to both China and France's elevated status
in global culinary circles[0], of readily commercially available fungi
species. After encountering an abandoned sawmill outside of Toulouse I set out
on a few day thought experiment to determine ballpark figures on setting up a
commercial mushroom farm, which in turn caused me to email some leading
robotics-related professors who had published recent papers on picking-type
robots. I explained the relatively unique situation we were in with respect to
capacity to select species (to some extent), facility site, process and layout
to enable automation. Their answer? Nothing yet flying too well. Apparently,
the simple task of snipping mushrooms off substrate blocks is too difficult
for mainstream AI. While I am now back in China enjoying a much wider range of
mushrooms (two _reishi_ on my bookshelf) and a new hobby of orchid-
gardening[1], do get in touch if you're potentially interested in co-
exploring/co-investing in research for this space. I also have an interest in
developing automated offshore seaweed farming.

[0] For example a book I read yesterday espoused the view that there are
really only three globally significant cuisines: Anatolian, Chinese and
French.

[1] Commercially useful for fragrance industry plus
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron)
for example.

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UshZilla
I'm so happy. My little sis is an o-chem major and OBSESSED with fungi, this
will be a fun link to send her way, thanks for this completely oddball post!

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dnautics
Is crispr actually used for fungal genome editing? It seems like TAR cloning
would be much easier.

