MUSHROOMS ARE SAVING BEES & US!
MUSHROOMS & BEES
Innovation is born out of a magnificent mix of ideas. New ideas happen when someone connects existing knowledge and past experience past experiences bases, resulting in a new understanding and new vision.
That’s exactly what happened when Fungi Perfecti founder Paul Stamets connected mushrooms and bees. He found that mushrooms have the power to save collapsing bee colonies around the world.
A recent study published in Nature’s Scientific Reports details research findings that show how extracts from mushroom mycelia help stop the epidemic viruses that are now killing the world’s honeybee populations.
Stamets, an award-winning mycologist who’s had a passion for mushrooms since childhood, began studying mushrooms as a student at Evergreen State College. He had an epiphany one morning when we awakened from a dream: Mushrooms can save bees! Mushrooms can save us! Check out Stamets’ TED talk, “6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World.”
About 25 years ago, Stamets had noticed a stream of bees traveling between a patch of mushrooms he was growing and his beehives. He watched as the bees made a concerted effort to move wood chips that were in their way so that they could access the mushroom mycelia, the subterranean filaments that produce spores. Stamets calls mycelia “Earth’s natural Internet” because of their vast networks.
Stamets could see the bees sipping on the droplets of liquid that was oozing from the mycelium. He thought they were after the fungi’s sugar and thought nothing more of it until decades later, when he found himself in a conversation about the catastrophic collapse of bee colonies that has been happening in record numbers over the past 30 years.
One of the biggest threats to bees is a set of fast-spreading viruses transmitted by tiny Varroa mites. Stamets knew that mycelium have not only sugars, but antiviral properties. He connected the dots and considered that the reason that the bees had been drinking mycelium “juice” was to inoculate themselves against the viruses.
The viruses have evolved to become more virulent. Since over 30% of human food supply is dependent on bee pollination, any threat to bees is a threat to humans. Stamets was compelled to investigate further to see if mushrooms could offer a key to salvation.
Stamets approached a number of scientists and research organizations with his idea and finally found a willing collaborator in Steve Sheppard, a Washington State University entomology professor. Together with other researchers, they conducted a study.
The researchers conducted two experiments using mycelium extracts of reishi and amadou species of polypore mushrooms. In one, they blind-tested bees who were fed mycelium extract against bees who were fed a placebo. In the other experiment, they field-tested the extract in small, working bee colonies near WSU. They found that the extract had eliminated viral infections.
They are not yet sure exactly how the mushroom extract works. It might be that it boosts bees’ immune systems, making them more resistant to the virus. Or, it could be that the extract kills the viruses. They are continuing their research to find out.
Regardless of how it works, the extract can easily be added to syrups commercial beekeepers commonly use, so it could scale quickly as a solution to stop colony collapse.
Stamets also designed a 3D-printable bee feeder that delivers mycelia extract to wild bees, which he plans to market to the public next year.
Stamets’ research is considered breakthrough by thought leaders for creating a paradigm shift for helping ecosystems worldwide. He has discovered and named numerous new species of psilocybin mushrooms.
Stamets believes that “MycoDiversity is BioSecurity.” He sees the ancient old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, where he is based, as a resource of incalculable value, especially in terms of its fungal genome. Stamets’ company Fungi Perfecti has been instrumental in developing new technologies and markets for mushrooms throughout the world, for medicinal, agricultural, environmental, and culinary uses.
Stamets’ findings in the lab and the field have shown that mushroom-based technologies can be deployed to clean up toxins and pollutants (mycoremediation), control insect pests (mycopesticides), restore habitats (mycorestoration), and treat or prevent human disease (mycomedicinals). He’s been awarded 9 patents, with several more pending.
Fun fact: In the Star Trek: Discovery series on CBS, the Science Officer is portrayed by an Astromycologist, Lieutenant Paul Stamets.
Check out Stamets’ book, “Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World” to learn more about the magic of mushroom mycelium. And check out Stamets’ other books: Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, and Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World.
Check out Host Defense, a mushroom-based supplement line that can help boost your own immune system.
And check out Fungi Perfecti where you can purchase mushroom growing kits, mushroom products, and gain access to a slew of mushroom recipes and information.
Join Fungi Perfecti’s "Save the Bees" mailing list by clicking here to receive future correspondence and updates about these exciting developments.
See more mushroom beauty in The Most Wildly Beautiful Mushrooms and Forests Full of Wild Mushroom Gems.
Read more about Magnificent Mix all this week on BeautifulNow. See Marvelous Mixed-up Landscape and check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
Read more about Magnificent Mix all this week on BeautifulNow. See Marvelous Mixed-up Landscape and check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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