Fungi

MYFA 7: Truffles or Truffling?

MYFA 7: Truffles or Truffling?

Truffles, famous for their aphrodisiac effects, are one of the world’s most expensive foods. Their tantalizing flavours have recruited an entire industry of truffle hunters, obsessed with recovering these subterranean morsels. In this episode, we take the truffles perspective as we wonder why they yearn to be unearthed.

MYFA 6: The Sex Life of Mushrooms

MYFA 6: The Sex Life of Mushrooms

Sex is the raison d’être for many of life’s strange contortions, and fungi are no exception. The visible mushroom exists solely as a sexual organ: disseminating the spores of the next generation. But that’s only the beginning of the weird world of mushroom courtship. Join us in the nitty gritty, and reflect on what mushrooms can teach us about the nature of sex and gender.

Meet Your Fungal Associates 4: Parasites

Meet Your Fungal Associates 4: Parasites

On today’s episode, we’re talking parasites: from pathogens, to freeloaders, to downright mushroom cannibals. Mendel is joined by Willoughby Arevalo to discuss some of the most far-out ways in which fungi can mooch for their livelihood, along a spectrum from benign to hyper-destructive.

Meet Your Fungal Associates 2: Morels

Meet Your Fungal Associates 2: Morels

For many people, forest fires bring to mind one particular mushroom: the highly prized morel. Every year, thousands of humans scour the sites of the last year’s burns - hoping for a profitable harvest. But what are these fungi? What… are any fungi? Mendel waxes solo.