One day, psychologist Brian Pilecki watched one of his patients travel back in time. Pilecki, a clinical mental health provider in Portland, Oregon, is licensed in the state to facilitate sessions where people take a dose of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in more than 200 species of mushrooms. His... The post For Better Therapy, Just Add Mushrooms appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.| Reasons to be Cheerful
When Mount Saint Helens in southwestern Washington erupted on the morning of May 18, 1980, the stratovolcano spewed a plume of debris high into the earth’s atmosphere and spread ash to at least eleven nearby states. The blast produced lahars — landslides of mud and ash — that barreled down... The post Fungi Are Becoming Invaluable First Responders in Eco-Crises appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.| Reasons to be Cheerful
Paul Stamets might never have found his life topic if he hadn’t been a painfully shy boy. As a child, he had a severe stutter and dreaded social interactions, spending much of his time staring at the ground. What he found there would come to define his life: Mushrooms. Today,... The post The Granddaddy of All Things Mushroom appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.| Reasons to be Cheerful
Each planting season, Claudia Bashian-Victoroff ventures out into Bole Woods, a 70-acre old-growth forest on the outskirts of Holden Forests & Gardens in the Cleveland suburbs, in search of fungi. But as she navigates the sugar maples, chestnut oaks, American beech and western red cedar that tower overhead, she focuses... The post An Environmental Triumph 400 Million Years in the Making appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.| Reasons to be Cheerful
It wouldn’t be wrong to say Sam Shoemaker crossed the ocean on a mushroom. This August, the Californian artist launched his 14-foot kayak off Catalina Island and paddled for 12 hours across the 26.5-mile Catalina Channel to San Pedro. He says when he lost strength during the journey, a fin... The post We’re Living in a Mushroom Kingdom appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.| Reasons to be Cheerful
Ever since The Last of Us blamed the end of the world on a parasitic fungus, fungi and the undead have become pop-culturally inseparable. Which is a shame because, the closer you look, the more it starts to seem like fungi –– in their quiet, inconspicuous way –– just might... The post Welcome to Fungi Week! appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.| Reasons to be Cheerful