WHAT do you call a man with a mushroom on his head? A fun guy. Paul Stamets, though, is deadly serious. He is on a mission to save the world, and his choice of headgear tells you how he plans to do it. "We need to invest in fungi," he says.
Mention the word fungus to most people, and the likely response is a shudder. Fungus is the mould on bread, the mildew on the ceiling, the infection in an unfortunate place. But that's a tad unfair. Fungus is also the yeast that made the bread and our frothing pint of beer, not to mention the blue graining in our gourmet cheese. As with many long-term relationships, humankind and mould are bonded in love and hate.
If Stamets and his ilk get their way, this relationship is about to experience a fresh bloom of love. A slew of fungal ...
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