Scientist, entrepreneur and author Paul Stamets took Cal Poly students on a “Magical Mushroom Mystery Tour” Tuesday night at the Spanos Theatre for a talk on his work in mycology, the study of fungi.
The lecture was a two-hour presentation of Stamets’ work, which covers everything from using mushrooms in cancer research, to ways fungi can clean up oil spills and nuclear radiation, to using mushrooms as a natural alternative to pesticides.
Stamets’ research in the diverse uses of mushrooms is fueled by his fascination of how people, plants and animals are interdependent, he said.
“My premise, my core belief, is that habitats and humans share immune systems, and mycelium (the vegetative part of a fungus) is a cellular bridge between the two,” Stamets said.
Stamets shared this belief with the audience through overviews of his different mushroom-related studies.
One way Stamets is using mushrooms is by creating new, more effective vaccinations. Stamets said when a fungus encounters a virus, it develops a genetic immunity to it by writing new DNA, a process called epigenesis. These fungi can then be used to create vaccines against bird flu and smallpox, among other diseases, Stamets said.
Stamets also gave an explanation of how planting mushrooms can be used to clean up oil pollution, and the rotting mushrooms then attract worms, birds and new plant life to the previously polluted area.
Dominic Ali, forestry senior and the event planner and coordinator said the breadth of Stamets’ research is what prompted the Forestry Honor Society to invite him to speak. Ali wanted the talk to appeal to a broad audience, as well as address the Forestry Honor Society’s particular interests of environmental management and forestry.
“The kingdom of fungi isn’t really in the forefront of science and it really plays a crucial role in a lot of the systems and ecosystems we’re managing,” Ali said.
The event was co-sponsored by the College of Agriculture, food and environmental sciences’ Center for Sustainability, the earth and soil science department, the natural resources management department and the Empower Poly Coalition. The turnout contained representatives from each, as well as fans of Stamets’ work.
Many students who came were already familiar with Stamets from a YouTube video “6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World,” created by the science website TED.
Art and design sophomore Claire Dierksen, who saw the video, said she was excited when she first heard that “the Mushroom Guy” from YouTube was coming to speak at Cal Poly.
Dierksen said she was fascinated by Stamets’ explanation of electrical networks in fungi, which Stamets compared to the Internet and the unseen structure of dark matter.
Other students were amazed by the effectiveness of mushrooms as medicine, like nutrition junior Shelayne Werfel. Werfel said the success of Stamets’ medicinal research revolutionized the whole game through mushrooms.
“I’ve always thought that mushrooms were pretty cool but I didn’t know how useful they could be,” Werfel said.
Stamets concluded his talk with a brief presentation of his company LifeBoxes, cardboard boxes that are impregnated with tree and plant seeds, as well as beneficial fungi. The boxes are a way to help rebuild ecosystems that have been damaged by humans, Stamets said.
He brought 30 LifeBoxes with him to give away to those inspired to grow mushrooms by his talk, a gesture in what Stamets hopes will be the return of mushrooms as an important part of people’s lives.
“I think mushroom farms should be reinvented as healing arts centers,” Stamets said. “Every community should have a small mushroom farm.”