#02: Fungi Frequencies

Hi there 🍄 

This week’s highlights include a round-up of mushroom cocktail recipes to make at home and a short Youtube documentary in partnership with UNHRC, the UN’s Refugee Agency, about the Congolese “Mushroom King.”

The future of sustainable construction

Welcome to my mycelium pad! Thanks to mycelium, our future homes could be made out of fungi. The best part? Mycelium absorbs sound really, really well. Bioconstruction repurposes a naturally occurring, rapidly renewing resource (in this case, mycelium) into sustainable building materials that reduce our widespread environmental impacts. If we replace many of these materials with mycelium-based methods, there’s a chance we could hit net zero construction emissions by 2060.

Read more about mycelium and bioconstruction. 

Step aside, Espresso Martinis

Mushrooms are dancing their way from dinner to drinks. As restaurants embrace fungi’s versatility, certain varieties are popping up in cocktails around the country. And why let mixologists have all the fun? We rounded up the 11 best mushroom cocktail recipes you can make at home to beat the heat. Might I recommend the Mushroom Margarita? Bet you already have some mushroom powder on hand…

Read more about mushroom cocktails here.

Around the web

• The Washington Post dove into forest fires and mushrooms with “Can mushrooms prevent megafires?” Turkey tail fungus shows the most promise as an antidote to prescribed burning because it accelerates the decomposition of the wood we purposefully thin out from forests. This decomposing wood, or “slash,” becomes organic matter at the hands of turkey tail much, much faster. Mycoremediation for the win.

• Mushrooms and cacao have walked hand-in-hand in Mesoamerican cultures since time immemorial. We’re remembering those traditional practices as the world of functional mushroom chocolates grows. The New York Times Style Magazine explored the brands emerging in the world of mushroom confections in “Mushrooms Have Taken Over Fashion and Wellness. Up Next: Chocolate.” 

• Hear the story of “permaculture expert, teacher, and Congolese refugee” Bemeriki Busamwa in I Meet the Mushroom King, the latest installment of We Were Here. We Were Here is a documentary series from the UNHRC, the UN’s Refugee Agency, in partnership with Youtube, that challenges stereotypes about refugees and seeks to unite us over our shared passions.

Featured artist

@modernbiology

I’m just sitting in a field plugging mushrooms into synthesizers - dont mind me 😂🍄🎹🎶 The mysterious desert shaggy mane mushroom! Recorded ... See more

Tarun Nayar of TikTok’s Modern Biology is a musician who uses synthesizers and electricity to create music with mushrooms, plants, and other fungi. He built his own equipment to harness the electrical circuits of the organic material. He turns these soundwaves into ambient songs that sound as otherworldly as you might expect from our fungi friends.

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