Fungi Town

Welcome back, citizen!

In this follow-up episode, Fungi Town welcomes back Dr. Roo Vandegrift from the University of Oregon. Last time, Dr. Vandegrift shared his enthusiasm for Xylaria, a group of fungi with a unique lifestyle. This time, he’ll talk about his upcoming documentary Marrow of the Mountain and the urgent need to stop a new mining development in the most biologically diverse place on the planet. *This bilingual episode is presented in Spanish and English.

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

Marrow of the Mountain Movie Trailer

OMASNE - Elisa Levy’s organization

Reserva los Cedros (Facebook)

Rainforest Information Center’s call for protection of the reserve

Bryn Detinger’s Lab

Tobias Policha’s Blog

Cornerstone Capital Resources Canadian mining company

Thank you to Dr. Vandegrift for his time and to Sarah Prentice for her help connecting with Roo. Deepest gratitude and appreciation goes to Laura Briseno Cazares for translating this episode! A transcript of this episode is coming soon.

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter promo code "FUNGITOWN" to get a 10% discount on your order. A percentage of sales goes to support the show!

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. The Ecuadorian national anthem, Salve, O Patria, was provided by Wikipedia.

You can find Fungi Town on Facebook. Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram: @fungitownpod or email at fungitownpod[at]gmail[dot]com. Check out the YouTube channel for fungi videos!

Welcome back, citizen!

In this episode, we peek over the fence, looking for fowl play. It's all about backyard chickens! The makers of Zen Hen join me to talk about their chicken treats and share how they're using fungi to improve the health of hens. My guests are two enterprising entrepreneurs, Craig Rouskey and Doug Manofsky, founders of Pando Nutrition. They'll talk about biotech, how to spot a healthy chicken, and the innovative ways they're utilizing fungi. You'll even hear a special discount code, just for Fungi Town citizens.

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

Pando Nutrition

Zen Hen

Real Vegan Cheese

Backyard Chickens.com

How Soy Sauce Is Made [National Geographic]

The Strange Allure of Pioneer Living [The Atlantic]

Thank you to my guests Craig Rouskey and Doug Manofsky from Pando Nutrition. A transcript of this episode will be available soon.

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter promo code "FUNGITOWN" to get a 10% discount on your order. A percentage of sales goes to support the show!

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. The theme music is by the awesome Athens, Georgia band Shehehe. 

You can find Fungi Town on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram: @fungitownpod or email at fungitownpod[at]gmail[dot]com. Check out the YouTube channel for fungi videos!

Welcome back, citizen!

You've seen fungi, you've likely eaten fungi, but have you heard fungi? In this episode, you'll get to do just that and learn how two artists have discovered how to collaborate with our nonhuman friends. Trust me, it's mind-blowing. My guests this time are: Tosca Teran and Andrei Gravelle of Nanotopia. 

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

Aquarian Hydrophone

Energy Bending Lab

Humus Sapiens

MIDI Sprout

Monophonic Moss Piglet

Tosca Teran was recently awarded a bio art residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto which runs through the summer. If you're in Toronto, you can check out Nanopod's workshops. 

Thank you to Tosca Teran and Andrei Gravelle for sharing their incredible music with us and to patron William Denton for suggesting this episode. You can access a transcript of this episode coming soon.

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter promo code "FUNGITOWN" to get a 10% discount on your order.

If you're enjoying the show so far, please consider becoming a patron. Just click the green "become a Patron" button on your screen (upper right corner) or go here.

• $1 level gets you access to bonus mini episodes + a Fungi Town vinyl sticker

If you've already become a patron and want to bump up a level for the new rewards, it's easy!

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. 

Welcome back, citizen!

Today, we revisit the exciting Fungus Olympics event and take a short trip around the world to talk to some competitors. This is part 2 of the series, where I speak with the contestants before they've run their fungi through the obstacles. In parts 3 and 4, we'll check in with our competitors to see how their fungi fared. If you missed part 1, check out episode 15 for a rundown of the event.

My guests this time are:

Dr. Shiv Kale at Virginia Tech

Dr. Daniel Henk at the University of Bath

Dr. David Peris from the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology in Spain

Learn more about the episode topics:

The Fungus Olympics

Wild Yeasts found in Patagonia

Thank you to Dr. Kale, Dr. Henk, and Dr. Peris for telling me all about their fungus Olympians! and to my mom for helping me spread the word about Lichen Landscapes (get 10% off your order with code: FUNGITOWN). Check back in a few days for a full transcript of this episode.

Are you a musician? Would you like to have your funky version of Fungi Town featured on the show? Send your .mp3 to fungitownpod [at] gmail [dot] com.

If you're enjoying the show so far, please consider becoming a patron. Just click the green "become a Patron" button on your screen (upper right corner) or go here.

• $1 level gets you access to bonus mini episodes + a Fungi Town vinyl sticker

If you've already become a patron and want to bump up a level for the new rewards, it's easy!

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. Sound effects and other background music accessed via a Creative Commons license.

You can find Fungi Town on Facebook. Twitter, and Instagram: @fungitownpod or email at fungitownpod[at]gmail[dot]com. Check out the new YouTube channel! Once the channel hits 100 subscribers, I'll be doing a fantastic fungi giveaway!

Welcome back, citizen!

Join us for a micro-battle in the soil! This week, we'll get familiar with nematodes and learn about an incredible adaptation that some familiar fungi have. My guest this time is Dr. Greg Thorn with Western University in London, Ontario.

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln - nematode page

American Phytopathological Society - nematode page

Medscape - Icky nematode-caused human diseases

Dr. George Barron - University of Guelph

The Atlantic - When Tulips Kill

Thank you to Dr. Greg Thorn for teaching us about the tricky traps fungi set for their prey, to Rowen Cannon for providing transcription, and to the Mycological Society of America's Student Section. You can access a transcript of this episode here.

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter promo code "FUNGITOWN" to get a 10% discount on your order.

Are you a musician? Would you like to have your funky version of Fungi Town featured on the show? Send your .mp3 to fungitownpod [at] gmail [dot] com.

If you're enjoying the show so far, please consider becoming a patron. Just click the green "become a Patron" button on your screen (upper right corner) or go here.

• $1 level gets you access to bonus mini episodes + a Fungi Town vinyl sticker

If you've already become a patron and want to bump up a level for the new rewards, it's easy!

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. Defunked theme music is Fminor_Funk_BassGroove_100bpm by GRD-music used via Creative Commons license through Freesound.  Background music is Mycelium by Lookyan. The thumbnail image for this episode was provided by the scientific journal Paracite.

Welcome back, citizen!

What's got people so excited about the Great Lakes? A great discovery in the lakes is getting a lot of attention lately. So, I spoke to the researchers who plumbed the depths of the Great Lakes and brought up something surprising. My guests this time are Dr. Andrew Miller from the University of Illinois and Dr. Robert Cichewicz from the University of Oklahoma.

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

Science Direct article - “What Lies Beneath? Fungal diversity at the Bottom of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior”

Illinois Prairie Research Institute article - "Scientists find new fungi at the bottom of the Great Lakes"

Michigan Radio article -  "Could a fungus from the bottom of a the Great Lakes hold a cure for cancer?"

What's In Your Backyard? citizen science project

Thank you to Dr. Miller and Dr. Cichewicz for sharing their remarkable discoveries with me, to Rowen Cannon for providing transcription, and to Leslie Masson of the Mushroom and Lichen Dyers United group. You can access a transcript of this episode here.

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter promo code "FUNGITOWN" to get a 10% discount on your order.

Are you a musician? Would you like to have your version of Fungi Town (like Funky Town) featured on the show? Send your mp3 to fungitownpod [at] gmail [dot] com. 

If you're enjoying the show so far, please consider becoming a patron. Just click the green "become a Patron" button on your screen (upper right corner) or go here.

• $1 level gets you access to bonus mini episodes + a Fungi Town vinyl sticker

If you've already become a patron and want to bump up a level for the new rewards, it's easy! 

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. Defunked theme music is Fminor_Funk_BassGroove_100bpm by GRD-music used via Creative Commons license through Freesound.  Background music is Flammulina velutipes by Keiss.

You can find Fungi Town on Facebook. Twitter, and Instagram: @fungitownpod or email at fungitownpod[at]gmail[dot]com. Check out the new YouTube channel! Once the channel hits 100 subscribers, I'll be doing a fantastic fungi giveaway!

Welcome back, citizen!

Can fungi do acrobatics? sprints? backstrokes? Find out in this first episode of Fungi Town's four-part series on the Fungus Olympics! I'll talk to one of the organizers of the competition and several of the competitors to find out how the event got started and learn about the people behind the competition.

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

The Fungus Olympics official site

Slime Moulds playlist

Wikipedia's entry on Microfluidics

Neutrophil definition from National Cancer Institute

Video of the hat-thrower fungus.

Thank you to Dr. Daniel Irimia from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Derreck Carter-House, Jesus Pena, and Dr. Jason Stajich from the University of California at Riverside, Dr. Ilkka Kronholm from the University of Jyväskylä, and to Rowen Cannon for providing the transcript for this episode, which you can find here or in the transcripts tab. 

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter promo code "FUNGITOWN" to get a 10% discount on your order.

Are you a musician? Would you like to have your version of Fungi Town (like Funky Town) featured on the show? Send your mp3 to fungitownpod [at] gmail [dot] com. 

If you're enjoying the show so far, please consider becoming a patron. Just click the green "become a Patron" button on your screen (upper right corner) or go here.

• $1 level gets you access to bonus mini episodes + a Fungi Town vinyl sticker

If you've already become a patron and want to bump up a level for the new rewards, it's easy! 

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. The fanfare sound is by bone666138, used via Creative Commons license through Freesound. Background music is Clavaria zolllingeri by Potential DiffereSE

You can find Fungi Town on Facebook. Twitter, and Instagram: @fungitownpod or email at fungitownpod[at]gmail[dot]com. Check out the new YouTube channel! Once the channel hits 100 subscribers, I'll be doing a fantastic fungi giveaway!

Welcome back, citizen!

Listen to this very special Halloween episode, where we'll talk about eerie glows, a mushroom that looks like a pumpkin, and fairy rings. My guest this time is Dr. Andrew Miller from the Illinois Natural History Survey.

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

Dr. Miller's co-authored article about Omphalotus

The Mushroom Expert's "conspiracy" article

Current Biology article about bioluminescence

Wikipedia's entry on fairy rings

Thank you to Dr. Andrew Miller from The Illinois Natural History Survey for sharing his expertise on Omphalotus, Dr. Marin Brewer for teaching us about fairy rings, and to Rowen Cannon for providing the transcript for this episode, which you can find here or in the transcripts tab. 

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter "FUNGITOWN" in the order notes.

***Update***

Fungi Town citizen, Leslie Masson, reached out to share some of her findings about this episode's fungi:

"I have a foolproof way of distinguishing chanterelles from Jack o’lanterns - put them in hot water. Jack O’Lanterns are a dye fungi so the water will become orange. When put into hot water chanterelles produce a negligible color change.

Are you a musician? Would you like to have your version of Fungi Town (like Funky Town) featured on the show? Send your mp3 to fungitownpod [at] gmail [dot] com. 

If you're enjoying the show so far, please consider becoming a patron. Just click the green "become a Patron" button on your screen (upper right corner) or go here. For $1 a month, you get access to exclusive mini episodes of the show, for a $5 montly contribution, you get one of my new Fungi Town bumper stickers, and now there's a $10 option that gives you a choice of any of three beautiful mushroom prints by Athens artist Maggie Baxter. If you've already become a patron and want to bump up a level for the new rewards, it's easy! 

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. Defunked theme music is Fminor_Funk_BassGroove_100bpm by GRD-music, evil monster laugher by maarten.tepaske, both used via Creative Commons license through Freesound. 

You can find Fungi Town on Facebook. Twitter, and Instagram: @fungitownpod or email at fungitownpod[at]gmail[dot]com. Check out the new YouTube channel! Once the channel hits 100 subscribers, I'll be doing a fantastic fungi giveaway!

Welcome back, citizen!

Life on Earth faces some serious challenges. In this episode, I'll go over some of the major events that have shaped life on our planet and talk about our current "extinction event." I'll also speak with Dr. Taegan McMahon about her efforts to save our amphibian species.

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

Mass Extinctions (American Museum of Natural History)

Mass Extinctions (National Geographic)

Cambrian Extinction (Live Science)

Devonian Extinction (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Anthropocene Extinction (Time)

Amphibian Extictions (NZFrog)

Thank you to Dr. Taegan McMahon from The University of Tampa for sharing her expertise on frogs and fungi, and to Rowen Cannon for providing the transcript for this episode, which you can find here. 

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter "FUNGITOWN" in the order notes.

Are you a musician? Would you like to have your version of Fungi Town (like Funky Town) featured on the show? Send your mp3 to fungitownpod [at] gmail [dot] com. 

If you're enjoying the show so far, please consider becoming a patron. Just click the green "become a Patron" button on your screen (upper right corner) or go here. For $1 a month, you get access to exclusive mini episodes of the show, for a $5 montly contribution, you get one of my new Fungi Town bumper stickers, and now there's a $10 option that gives you a choice of any of three beautiful mushroom prints by Athens artist Maggie Baxter. If you've already become a patron and want to bump up a level for the new rewards, it's easy! 

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. Defunked theme music is Fminor_Funk_BassGroove_100bpm by GRD-music, wildlife by conleec, bats by klankschap, and cane toads by bhobby all used via Creative Commons license through Freesound. Ominous music was Psathyrella Aquatica by Sobrio, also used through a Creative Commons license.

You can find Fungi Town on Facebook. Twitter, and Instagram: @fungitownpod or email at fungitownpod[at]gmail[dot]com. Check out the new YouTube channel! Once the channel hits 100 subscribers, I'll be doing a fantastic fungi giveaway!

Welcome back, citizen!

What do gangrene, witches, and LSD have in common? Find out when I talk to Dr. Anthony Glenn from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service about the plant pathogen known as ergot of rye.

If you want to learn more about this episode's topics, here are some links:

Claviceps purpurea (Wikipedia)

Ergot (American Phytopathological Society)

Grass (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Thank you to Dr. Anthony Glenn from The USDA for sharing his expertise on the show and to Rowen Cannon for providing the transcript for this episode, which you can find here. 

Please check out my sponsor, Lichen Landscapes, for unique cards and prints and don't forget to enter "FUNGITOWN" in the order notes.

Are you a musician? Would you like to have your version of Fungi Town (like Funky Town) featured on the show? Send your mp3 to fungitownpod [at] gmail [dot] com. 

If you're enjoying the show so far, please consider becoming a patron. Just click the green "become a Patron" button on your screen (upper right corner) or go here. For $1 a month, you get access to exclusive mini episodes of the show, for a $5 montly contribution, you get one of my new Fungi Town bumper stickers, and now there's a $10 option that gives you a choice of any of three beautiful mushroom prints by Athens artist Maggie Baxter. If you've already become a patron and want to bump up a level for the new rewards, it's easy! 

Fungi Town is written, directed and produced by Jen Parrilli and hosted on Podbean. Theme music is by the awesome Athens, GA band Shehehe. Defunked theme music is Fminor_Funk_BassGroove_100bpm by GRD-music, lawn mower by ainayave, baseball hit by AmishRob, and grasswalk by smaigin; all used via Creative Commons license through Freesound. 

You can find Fungi Town on Facebook. Twitter, and Instagram: @fungitownpod or email at fungitownpod[at]gmail[dot]com. Check out the new YouTube channel! Once the channel hits 100 subscribers, I'll be doing a fantastic fungi giveaway!