100th Episode Special
Alex Dorr
To celebrate our 100th episode, we kick off the show with a compilation of all the responses to our classic question "If mushrooms had the mic and could say one thing to the whole human race, what would they say?"
We also have some updates for you all, including a message of gratitude for making the podcast possible. Enjoy the condensed fungal wisdom and some candid conversation between your co-hosts Alex Dorr and Lera Niemackl.
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Featuring:
Nathalie Kelley
Myron Smith
Omar Thomas
Sophia Roe
Ekaterina Dadachova
Te'Lario Watkins II
Robin Divine
Larry Evans
Cassie Ettinger
Matt Scullin
Lexie Gropper
Alexandra Elbakyan
Vanja Palmers
Thomas Hartle
Ryan Paul Gates
Alan Rockefeller
Jones Omage
Giuliana Furci
Matthew Meyer
Steve Axford
Tom Volk
Anna Sitkoff
Tradd Cotter
Barry McCleary
Mario Ceballos
Gunther Weil
Ian Hall
Merlin Sheldrake
TRANSCRIPT
Alex 0:00
You're listening to the mushroom revival podcast.
If mushrooms had the mic, and could say one thing to the whole human race, what would they say?
Nat Kelley 0:21
We are your ancestors, listen to your ancestors.
You're listening to the mushroom revival podcast.
If mushrooms had the mic, and could say one thing to the whole human race, what would they say?
Nat Kelley 0:21
We are your ancestors, listen to your ancestors.
Myron Smith 0:31
Well, they might say, use your resources wisely. armillaria is really good at pacing itself. And it's in there for the long run. And I think that there's a lesson in that.
Omar Thomas 0:41
They would say that the answer is in unity, in cooperation, the mushrooms themself play a particular role in the niche that they inhabit, biologically, and that we do the same.
Sophia Roe 0:50
Remember, you need your neighbor more than you think you do. They will
Ekaterina Dadachova 0:57
say, Don't underestimate us, because we are the most numerous species on Earth. And we can do a lot of good things. And we can also do a lot of bad things.
Te'Lario Watkins IIÂ 1:11
They would even though some of us are poisonous, were fun guys.
Robin Divine 1:16
Mushrooms had the mic, I think they would say you deserve this healing, too. This is for you. To be shut out of so many spaces of so many healing spaces. I think they want us to know that they're open and available and here for us, just like everybody else.
Ekaterina Dadachova 0:57
say, Don't underestimate us, because we are the most numerous species on Earth. And we can do a lot of good things. And we can also do a lot of bad things.
Te'Lario Watkins IIÂ 1:11
They would even though some of us are poisonous, were fun guys.
Robin Divine 1:16
Mushrooms had the mic, I think they would say you deserve this healing, too. This is for you. To be shut out of so many spaces of so many healing spaces. I think they want us to know that they're open and available and here for us, just like everybody else.
Larry Evans
I don't have a mouth!
Cassie Ettinger
Don't you forget about me?
Matt Scullin 1:41
Well, I think first of all, they'd probably be speaking a language that was was too advanced for us to understand. But I think that they would, they would say that we're primitive. I think that we have such a poor understanding of mycelium.
Lexie Gropper 2:01
I think they would scream to tell us to behave as in the future of our species directly depends on the health of our ecosystem, and the community relationships. I think if I've learned anything from fungi, it's it's that they don't work alone.
Matt Scullin 1:41
Well, I think first of all, they'd probably be speaking a language that was was too advanced for us to understand. But I think that they would, they would say that we're primitive. I think that we have such a poor understanding of mycelium.
Lexie Gropper 2:01
I think they would scream to tell us to behave as in the future of our species directly depends on the health of our ecosystem, and the community relationships. I think if I've learned anything from fungi, it's it's that they don't work alone.
Alexandra Elbakyan 2:19
They would say that reality is an illusion.
Vanja Palmers 2:25
They would laugh and say, don't worry, be happy.
Thomas Hartle 2:30
That somehow as people we see ourselves as being us, and nature. And the fact of the matter is, is that there isn't any us and nature we are nature's it's just us,Â
Ryan Paul Gates 2:50
Feed me.
Alan Rockefeller 2:53
Well, certainly, you know, the psilocybin mushrooms. Kind of like really help with depression. So and I think they also really help people make good use of their time. So I would say, you know, psilocybin mushrooms themselves would say, don't be depressed, don't worry about things and make good use of the time that you have.Â
Jones Omage 3:16
So most of us would ask, what would it be to leave without them?And I think as mycologist. And as mushroom enthusiasts who already know the answer, it wouldn't be a good world to live in. Because they play a very vital role in contributing to the life that we live in.
Giuliana Furci 3:31
I think they'd say, give us your body.
Alan Rockefeller 2:53
Well, certainly, you know, the psilocybin mushrooms. Kind of like really help with depression. So and I think they also really help people make good use of their time. So I would say, you know, psilocybin mushrooms themselves would say, don't be depressed, don't worry about things and make good use of the time that you have.Â
Jones Omage 3:16
So most of us would ask, what would it be to leave without them?And I think as mycologist. And as mushroom enthusiasts who already know the answer, it wouldn't be a good world to live in. Because they play a very vital role in contributing to the life that we live in.
Giuliana Furci 3:31
I think they'd say, give us your body.
Matthew Meyer 3:39
Look down, look at us, and just pay attention. Pay more attention to us. But not not only us, the other sort of underdog clades of organisms out there, we contribute more than you know,
Steve Axford 3:50
I'm tempted to say mushrooms dog care, something right? Chill out guys dug, dug stuff yourselves up.
Steve Axford 3:50
I'm tempted to say mushrooms dog care, something right? Chill out guys dug, dug stuff yourselves up.
Tom Volk 3:59
I know there. There are a lot of fungi that are mutualistic, with other organisms. And I think if we can do more of that. And as humans, that would be pretty great.
Anna Sitkoff 4:09
I think they would say, to not be afraid of death. Look what beauty comes afterwards. And look what we've created through the facilitation of death.
Tradd Cotter 4:22
Ask not what mushrooms can do for you, but what you can do for your mushrooms.
Anna Sitkoff 4:09
I think they would say, to not be afraid of death. Look what beauty comes afterwards. And look what we've created through the facilitation of death.
Tradd Cotter 4:22
Ask not what mushrooms can do for you, but what you can do for your mushrooms.
Barry McCleary 4:30
Wherever you go, I've already been.
Mario Ceballos 4:33
I think they would tell us to forgive ourselves. Certain machines are more forgiving than others. And I think in this world, some of us need a lot more forgiveness than others.
Gunther Weil 4:46
Check me out.
Ian Hall 4:49
Hey, look at me.
Merlin Sheldrake 4:52
I think over the mic. I think you'd have some very astonishing kind of polyphonic music that would come through and it would be it would either drive us mad or listen to into some peculiar dreams but i think i think it would be definitely a polyphony. And probably good for us.
Lera 5:04
Alex, what do you think mushrooms would say?
Alex 5:12
Something poetic like that. What about you, Lera?
Lera 5:16
Well, you know, two years ago, they told me to start a mushroom podcast. It's been two years.
Alex 5:22
It's been a long time. Yeah. 100 episodes. It's pretty exciting. Thank you, everyone for being a part of this. This is goes beyond, you know, the products that we happen to sell. We are really doing this to create a community of people that are raving and obsessed about mushrooms and more importantly, just put a spotlight on the underdog, which is fungi means the world. And I'm sure the fungi are equally as grateful.
Lera 5:52
Yeah, and I want to take a moment and just be super appreciative for all the guests that we've had definitely warms my heart to look back on the roster and just see all of the wonderful connections. We've made all the beautiful people who are sharing their fungal knowledge. It's really special.
Alex 6:10
What was our biggest episode, the last 100 episodes.
Lera 6:13
Okay, so I looked at the stats this morning, and based on downloads, only the trophy goes to know your fungus with Larry Evans. Wow,
Alex 6:23
love Larry Evans,
Lera 6:24
before. You know what episode was number one for almost a year straight was ecology of psilocybin.
Alex 6:29
That was also one of my favorite episodes, a good
Lera 6:32
conversation, we will have him on again, Matthew Mayer, if you haven't heard that one yet. Go listen. He's brilliant. He's basically studying the ecology of psilocybin. And you know why this compound came to be his thesis was called, why did the mushroom become magic?
Alex 6:46
Yeah, we've had some great episodes, y'all. We've had so many guests from all over the world. And some of those we we've had to translate from other languages wake up at 7am to talk to people on the other side of the world. Yeah. Or late at night. You know, and, and we've, we've done it for the mushrooms. We've done it for from you guys. And
Lera 7:06
yeah, and two years ago, there was one mushroom podcast that was consistently releasing stuff called fungi etown. I like that one a lot. And I was like, you know, there's such an opportunity here for just a wealth of information. And I wished there was a mushroom podcast. I wanted that for myself, and propose it to you. And now it's been really well received. There's other mushroom podcasts popping up. People are hungry for this information. And it's great. Absolutely. I love that we have not run out of things to talk about.
Alex 7:39
Oh, we were worried about that. Yeah, we're worried in the beginning. We're like, Oh, my God, we're gonna run out of guests. The mushroom scene is so you know, niche and blah, blah, blah. No, we barely even scratched the surface. And every time we go to record or find new guests, it's like, it's like, yeah, we haven't even reached out to dozens of them, because we're so books out for months and months. So thanks. Thanks to Lera she's been mostly taking charge of the podcast. I'm a humble guest. I feel like you know, she does all the editing, I used to do all the editing, and I handed it over to lira. And you know, it's been a lifesaver for me so I can do other other things, you books, all the guests and has been instrumental for this podcast. And just a little housekeeping update is that Lera got another part time job and she's still gonna be running our podcast, she's still gonna make it happen and continue to pump out these amazing episodes. But also going to spend a large part of our day working with with biotechnology, which is amazing.
Lera 8:45
Yeah, yeah. So for people who've known mushroom revival for a long time, I came on the team to run the lab back when we had a cordyceps farm. And I've loved it. I loved working with the fungus. I loved working with my hands.
Alex 8:58
She was responsible for she's grown more cortices militaries than any person in this half of the globe. I mean, you know, she knows her quadriceps left and right. One of the most influential quarter says militaries, farmers, probably in the world, but it's especially this half of the globe for sure. It's also
Lera 9:19
great to be a woman in this space. There's a lot of dudes. So you know. Anyway, I got a job working for the open discovery Institute or better known as the Odin. So anyone who is like into the biotechnology scene, there's a company started by the bio hacker bio engineer, Josiah Zener, and they just moved to Austin. Just got his keys last week, and next Monday is my day one, I'm going to help them move in and there's a lot of fun projects that I get to work on with him. I'm super excited. But I'm not going anywhere. I'll continue to be the podcast co host. For as long as I can produce this songs I have a voice and as long as we have a microphone, as long as there's mushroom content,
Alex 10:04
I'm super excited. I, you know, it's funny because she works her butt off. And then once she's finished with work, she continues to work. And she'll be reading, you know, till like, really late at night, the scientific articles about some biology or biotechnology or chemistry or something like that, or working on some projects or in a lab doing some really cutting edge science, you know, constantly blown away by her passion of doing this science and, and that's where our heart is. I'm unbelievably excited that she can. Now many people can work one of their dream jobs, but to and be able to balance both of them and just all day, do what you love.
Lera 10:50
Pinch me.
Alex 10:51
Pretty cool. It's it's a dream for many people, if not everyone out there. So kudos to to wear it for making it happen.
Lera 10:59
Thanks, babe.
Alex 11:00
So what has been your favorite episodes, this whole journey of 100 100 episodes?
Lera 11:08
That's so hard. I mean, obviously, I love them all. But I want to shout out the ones that I get a lot of direct value from, like the biotechnology ones, like I really enjoyed the fungal biotechnology with Michroma. And we talked to Ricky Cassini, who's working for a startup in Argentina. And they're basically using metabolites from fungi to replace petroleum based dyes for food and cosmetics. And it was just really friggin cool to see fungi show up and weird niches like that. And that's what I love to see in with these podcasts. It's just surprising applications, unlikely applications of fungi. Because I think it's inspiring. And, you know, it's like that hyphal tip that's just trailblazing onto a whole new substrate to see what it's capable of. So I love that one. And any other the fungal biotech ones like the fine mycelium, the bolt threads myco technology. I also was fangirling so hard when Alexandra elbakyan. Okay, she made me more nervous than any other guest.
Alex 12:23
She Yeah, she's a superstar. Yeah, sure.
Lera 12:26
I just had such reverence for her. And, you know, we talked to some celebrities. And sure, I might have had like a little bit of butterflies. But Alexandra, she I was like, I can't believe you're looking at me through a screen right now. Like
Alex 12:39
she was she was the founder of Sai hub, if anyone's curious. And that was one of our more recent episodes that we had to translate from Russian hand was more of a narrative style. And it was really, really good. I mean, it's been so influential for the scientific community, especially the mike mycology community for sure. So that was a great episode.
Lera 13:00
Yeah, I owe almost everything I know about mycology to her seriously, like I have the Basic Books. But you know, the more comprehensive and ultra dense literature like the Springer books on cell biology, I could not have accessed without Sai hub. I mean, I could have paid like hundreds of dollars per book. But to get all of that for free, especially in a PDF form where I can control f It's incredible. I also love the one with Omar Thomas. I thought that was a really beautiful and important conversation. Marine fungi was fun because that whole episode was just about like, Hey, we exist. And I really like to have conversations about things that are overlooked humongous fungus I like to just because I have kind of an obsession with armillaria that genus of fungi, and Loki the spooky mushrooms episode was also one of my favorites was super fun to write. Oh yeah,
Alex 13:59
that was a really fun episode we actually recorded it on my bed and we had a soundboard of all these spooky sounds that were playing
Lera 14:09
from your phone
Alex 14:10
from my phone. It was it was very low quality like low production value but it was it was really fun to do and weave in all these facts I I also like the marine fungi I love the the Sai hub interview. ecology of psilocybin was mind blowing mycelium versus fruiting bodies with Jeff Shelton I hear and I look at sometimes I like stumble upon a forum. And I see a lot of people actually quoting that episode and I think it's a really important conversation. The zombie cicada episode that we just did was unbelievable is mind blowing was cool is funny. So probably my best editing of all the podcasts. The editing was crucial. I mean, who's really really good Marilyn shell Drake such a blessing. You know, both of our fungi and radiation episodes are super, super good. I have forgotten now, Dennis McKenna. He's been an idol of mine for since I was a young kid, so I was awesome to talk with them, you know, for for a long time and Sophia row was incredible. I mean, end of life with Thomas Hartle was so heartwarming. And I mean, there's I can't even it's like picking your favorite child. I mean, there's probably dozens I'm forgetting. But every single one has been special in their own way. It really brings this connection. Right. So I remember we had Gavin McIntyre on our, our episode of ecovative. And then, I don't know why a week later, a couple weeks later, we took a tour of ecovative. And then I think I met Namah a week or two later, we saw Matt Namah. And it was like, so unexpected and, and, you know, we became good friends. And it was just because we made this connection to share this this mushroom education. And in with Larry Evans, we're we're foraging with him non stop and Telluride, day after day going out in the woods and finding truffles and all this cool stuff. Like a week later, we have him on our podcast and, you know, forming that these really tight relationships with with the fungal communities so sacred and really special to have this platform to bring everybody together and a new people wanting to come into this field. It's so rich and really special.
Lera 16:35
I hope it's instrumental to you all. Thank you for just sticking with us. I love to see the trends going up and you know, our episode downloads, they get better and better. And it's awesome.
Alex 16:47
It's been a really nourishing fun time. So thank you, everyone for supporting us. We could not do without you seriously. So thank you for loving mushrooms as much as we do.
Lera 16:59
Yeah, and since our last kind of check in podcast, we've had a lot of new listeners. Just looking at the stats, I think we're up, like 3k new people. So hello. Welcome to the mushroom revival podcast. If you've made your way down the line, or have listened to some older episodes, you might know us a little better. But in case you don't, we thought we'd just play you know who we are. I feel like a lot of people wonder if we're dating
Alex 17:31
apps a fucking DVR. I love the shit out of lira. And I hopefully she loves the show me. We're both total goons. And you guys,
Lera 17:41
you think his full time job is being the boss at mushroom revival, but it's actually making fun of Lera
Alex 17:48
I'd have so much love all day. It is so much love. She's such an alien girl. And I mean, that was so much love. I mean, yeah, I've seen all parts of you. And it's beautiful. And and if you can see all parts of someone good, bad, ugly. And you know, and still love them even more than you got the right person. So I got that with you earlier. And I'm really happy to do this podcast with you. It's really special.
Lera 18:17
Likewise, thanks for making it happen.
Alex 18:20
So who are you? I know who you are, I think I'm getting to know you. And what are some favorite hobbies that you have?
Lera 18:32
Well, you've already alluded to some of that I love to learn. You know, I have two degrees, one in linguistics one and 3d visual arts or sculpture. And now I'm into science, and biology and mycology. So my taste for things is eclectic. And I love everything. I love the universe. And I love to bike. I love music, I got these great headphones, and I'm just like, always listening to new music. I love to read. You know, I like to explore. I'm always trying to find an excuse to go somewhere new. What about you?
Alex 19:11
I they've been changing and they definitely changed during COVID actually, with the start of mushroom revival, my hobbies of getting gotten less and less, I just have less time, free time. And you know, any way I can relax, because I'm spending most of my time just working. So I've been actually getting into gaming, and it's something that you know, as a kid, I was really into it and it's kind of nostalgic and you know, it's fun. I get to you know, go into this other universe really and be able to control a character and, you know, think critically and solve problems and you know, depending on what it is I see really beautiful like illustrations and And be able to do stuff in that reality that I can't do in this reality. And to be that middle way, right of being able to do yoga, meditate, but also play video games and not judge yourself for it. So I've been getting really into it recently. And then of course, just eating really good food, you know, traveling, which I haven't been doing enough of during COVID. And I'm really excited to get back out there.
Lera 20:24
And where in the world would you want to travel?
Alex 20:28
There's so many places, Southeast Asia. There's so many countries in Southeast Asia that haven't been to and I would love to just spend, you know, a few months just popping all around Madagascar and Papa New Guinea, I would just Oh, so beautiful. I'd love to go a few countries in in Africa, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali, I mean, Egypt, just, I mean, the history just to see the pyramids, I mean, unbelievable. Ethiopia, also the history, the food, the culture. Mali, there's such great music there and culture in Mali. A lot of stuff too.
Lera 21:09
Let's spin it. Yeah. And forever.
Alex 21:12
Actually, Japan is on my bucket list. I would love to go, you know, during cherry blossom. And just yeah, and there's a big mushroom scene there. So I'd love to visit a bunch of mushroom farms there. There's a bunch of Hawaiian islands that I would love to go to. I've only been to Hawaii. So you know, I have really good friends there and would love to just, I mean, Hawaii is fucking beautiful. And, you know, like Argentina, Brazil. So many places. I mean, I can go on forever and ever, but, but how about yourself?
Lera 21:52
Yeah, everywhere. Even even like Antarctica, I'd be down to go for a hot minute. I'm
Alex 21:59
not.
Lera 22:02
I just Okay, so there's a blogger, his name's Tim urban. And he went to like four of the most undesirable or like, unconventional places, he went to Greenland, North Korea. A couple other really random places that I can't remember. But I'm really intrigued by that. And I have this weird hobby where I'll go to Google Maps, and just like zoom in on somewhere random, find a business, like read the reviews, look at the pictures, just to see what this corner of the universe looks like. And I'll be like, right outside of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, I stare at maps, you guys I used to work for an office of study abroad back in college. There's this giant, big beautiful map that I looked at every day, I just would get obsessed with with one region at a time. So Jews, yeah,
Alex 22:55
she's really good at knowing the shapes of countries. And there's this game of what country is in my earphone that, that she's unbelievable, I suck at that. It's I'm really, really bad.
Lera 23:09
Well, okay, when I was learning, laser cutting, for my art degree, I was like, Okay, I'm just going to practice on this machine by cutting out the shapes of all the countries. Now I despise the Mercator projection and other maps that radically misrepresent the proportions of one country to the next. But that's a whole other conversation.
Alex 23:31
What are some of your pet peeves? What don't you like?
Lera 23:35
I don't like waste. I kind of am obsessed with obsessed and fascinated with how things come to be. And the more complicated the object, the more fascinating It is like an iPhone, for example. I do this thought experiment where you walk out into the raw Earth, like humans haven't been here yet. And you see all of this abundance of his life and then you hold up an Apple Mac, or an iPhone. So you are like, how did we use? How did we turn this material into something like that? And I'm just constantly thinking about this as a consumer. So at the store, you know, if I'm trying to buy kimchi and one comes in a plastic bag and one comes in a glass jar, I'm going for the jar because I'm thinking about where it comes from and where it will go. And I don't know. That's, that's a privileged place to be to be able to educate myself on where it came from and where it will go. It's also like, Yeah, sometimes that item is more expensive. Maybe I have the extra means to pay for that. But it does bother me. When I see unnecessary waste or waste that is like super easily mitigated. That's a pet peeve. I'm pretty sick of like, all the violence, the suffering the racism. I don't really know if I consider that a pet peeve. Though because it's not something that's, like subtle and so if that's the definition we're going I think light is super underestimated. When I come home and the light, you got the light all the way up. I'm like, dude, we got dimmers turn that down like you did great with the studio right now. But sometimes I'm just, you know, making the light. emulate what's going on outside is huge for me. What about your What are your pet peeves?
Alex 25:27
I think it really boils down to the ego. I in not into that drama Mama.
Lera 25:34
Yeah, I view the ego as kind of an autoimmune issue. It's like attacking your own body. And mean, the ego can go both ways and that you inflate it, to feed it. But you can also succumb to like I'm not worthy and identify with like, a lack of something or an abundance of something. And honestly, if I didn't read, Eckhart tolle's books,
Alex 26:02
I was about to say
Lera 26:03
that meditate. I don't know if I would have ever really been cognizant of it. But the fact that you if like just developing an awareness of it. super powerful.
Alex 26:14
Yeah. ekor told the power of now one of my favorite books, favorite mushroom,
Lera 26:19
whatever mushroom I'm hanging out with, but in the lab, I've just been really enjoying armillaria I mean, dude, what?
Alex 26:30
Yeah, we have two oranges with our valaria growing all over it just like above our kitchen sink right now.
Lera 26:38
I keep having dreams that I eat these oranges. It's I've had three dreams now. I'm sure it's edible. It's a honey mushroom stuffed animal but it doesn't look appetizing at all.
Alex 26:48
So one of the first pictures or video that I have of lire on my phone. Is her eating a stink corn egg. And I'm waiting raw. Yeah. And oh, yeah, it was disgusting. And yeah, you ate it. And I'm waiting for you to eat this armillaria orange and then I'll put them back to back. We'll give you one weird fungal thing to eat every year. I don't know if I can either make a montage.
Lera 27:16
I might have to just because I've had so many dreams about it now that I'm like, okay, there's something telling me to consume at least part of this, but I don't know. We pretty gross. But anyway, what's your favorite mushroom?
Alex 27:31
Definitely. So ossipee cubensis for sure. And I'm not going to pick our particular entomopathogenic fungi but I'm just gonna say all quarter steps.
Lera 27:43
Yeah, I mean, all mushrooms are magic.
Alex 27:46
They are. Thank you, everyone so so much again, for being part of this community that we are creating that the mushrooms are creating. You are so special. The mushrooms are so special. And thank you for being a part of it.
Lera 28:01
Yep. And once again, this is Episode 100 of the mushroom revival podcast. And next week we'll have Episode 101 all the way to infinity and beyond.
Alex 28:13
As always, much love and may the spores be with you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai ** Subject to error
Lera 5:04
Alex, what do you think mushrooms would say?
Alex 5:12
Something poetic like that. What about you, Lera?
Lera 5:16
Well, you know, two years ago, they told me to start a mushroom podcast. It's been two years.
Alex 5:22
It's been a long time. Yeah. 100 episodes. It's pretty exciting. Thank you, everyone for being a part of this. This is goes beyond, you know, the products that we happen to sell. We are really doing this to create a community of people that are raving and obsessed about mushrooms and more importantly, just put a spotlight on the underdog, which is fungi means the world. And I'm sure the fungi are equally as grateful.
Lera 5:52
Yeah, and I want to take a moment and just be super appreciative for all the guests that we've had definitely warms my heart to look back on the roster and just see all of the wonderful connections. We've made all the beautiful people who are sharing their fungal knowledge. It's really special.
Alex 6:10
What was our biggest episode, the last 100 episodes.
Lera 6:13
Okay, so I looked at the stats this morning, and based on downloads, only the trophy goes to know your fungus with Larry Evans. Wow,
Alex 6:23
love Larry Evans,
Lera 6:24
before. You know what episode was number one for almost a year straight was ecology of psilocybin.
Alex 6:29
That was also one of my favorite episodes, a good
Lera 6:32
conversation, we will have him on again, Matthew Mayer, if you haven't heard that one yet. Go listen. He's brilliant. He's basically studying the ecology of psilocybin. And you know why this compound came to be his thesis was called, why did the mushroom become magic?
Alex 6:46
Yeah, we've had some great episodes, y'all. We've had so many guests from all over the world. And some of those we we've had to translate from other languages wake up at 7am to talk to people on the other side of the world. Yeah. Or late at night. You know, and, and we've, we've done it for the mushrooms. We've done it for from you guys. And
Lera 7:06
yeah, and two years ago, there was one mushroom podcast that was consistently releasing stuff called fungi etown. I like that one a lot. And I was like, you know, there's such an opportunity here for just a wealth of information. And I wished there was a mushroom podcast. I wanted that for myself, and propose it to you. And now it's been really well received. There's other mushroom podcasts popping up. People are hungry for this information. And it's great. Absolutely. I love that we have not run out of things to talk about.
Alex 7:39
Oh, we were worried about that. Yeah, we're worried in the beginning. We're like, Oh, my God, we're gonna run out of guests. The mushroom scene is so you know, niche and blah, blah, blah. No, we barely even scratched the surface. And every time we go to record or find new guests, it's like, it's like, yeah, we haven't even reached out to dozens of them, because we're so books out for months and months. So thanks. Thanks to Lera she's been mostly taking charge of the podcast. I'm a humble guest. I feel like you know, she does all the editing, I used to do all the editing, and I handed it over to lira. And you know, it's been a lifesaver for me so I can do other other things, you books, all the guests and has been instrumental for this podcast. And just a little housekeeping update is that Lera got another part time job and she's still gonna be running our podcast, she's still gonna make it happen and continue to pump out these amazing episodes. But also going to spend a large part of our day working with with biotechnology, which is amazing.
Lera 8:45
Yeah, yeah. So for people who've known mushroom revival for a long time, I came on the team to run the lab back when we had a cordyceps farm. And I've loved it. I loved working with the fungus. I loved working with my hands.
Alex 8:58
She was responsible for she's grown more cortices militaries than any person in this half of the globe. I mean, you know, she knows her quadriceps left and right. One of the most influential quarter says militaries, farmers, probably in the world, but it's especially this half of the globe for sure. It's also
Lera 9:19
great to be a woman in this space. There's a lot of dudes. So you know. Anyway, I got a job working for the open discovery Institute or better known as the Odin. So anyone who is like into the biotechnology scene, there's a company started by the bio hacker bio engineer, Josiah Zener, and they just moved to Austin. Just got his keys last week, and next Monday is my day one, I'm going to help them move in and there's a lot of fun projects that I get to work on with him. I'm super excited. But I'm not going anywhere. I'll continue to be the podcast co host. For as long as I can produce this songs I have a voice and as long as we have a microphone, as long as there's mushroom content,
Alex 10:04
I'm super excited. I, you know, it's funny because she works her butt off. And then once she's finished with work, she continues to work. And she'll be reading, you know, till like, really late at night, the scientific articles about some biology or biotechnology or chemistry or something like that, or working on some projects or in a lab doing some really cutting edge science, you know, constantly blown away by her passion of doing this science and, and that's where our heart is. I'm unbelievably excited that she can. Now many people can work one of their dream jobs, but to and be able to balance both of them and just all day, do what you love.
Lera 10:50
Pinch me.
Alex 10:51
Pretty cool. It's it's a dream for many people, if not everyone out there. So kudos to to wear it for making it happen.
Lera 10:59
Thanks, babe.
Alex 11:00
So what has been your favorite episodes, this whole journey of 100 100 episodes?
Lera 11:08
That's so hard. I mean, obviously, I love them all. But I want to shout out the ones that I get a lot of direct value from, like the biotechnology ones, like I really enjoyed the fungal biotechnology with Michroma. And we talked to Ricky Cassini, who's working for a startup in Argentina. And they're basically using metabolites from fungi to replace petroleum based dyes for food and cosmetics. And it was just really friggin cool to see fungi show up and weird niches like that. And that's what I love to see in with these podcasts. It's just surprising applications, unlikely applications of fungi. Because I think it's inspiring. And, you know, it's like that hyphal tip that's just trailblazing onto a whole new substrate to see what it's capable of. So I love that one. And any other the fungal biotech ones like the fine mycelium, the bolt threads myco technology. I also was fangirling so hard when Alexandra elbakyan. Okay, she made me more nervous than any other guest.
Alex 12:23
She Yeah, she's a superstar. Yeah, sure.
Lera 12:26
I just had such reverence for her. And, you know, we talked to some celebrities. And sure, I might have had like a little bit of butterflies. But Alexandra, she I was like, I can't believe you're looking at me through a screen right now. Like
Alex 12:39
she was she was the founder of Sai hub, if anyone's curious. And that was one of our more recent episodes that we had to translate from Russian hand was more of a narrative style. And it was really, really good. I mean, it's been so influential for the scientific community, especially the mike mycology community for sure. So that was a great episode.
Lera 13:00
Yeah, I owe almost everything I know about mycology to her seriously, like I have the Basic Books. But you know, the more comprehensive and ultra dense literature like the Springer books on cell biology, I could not have accessed without Sai hub. I mean, I could have paid like hundreds of dollars per book. But to get all of that for free, especially in a PDF form where I can control f It's incredible. I also love the one with Omar Thomas. I thought that was a really beautiful and important conversation. Marine fungi was fun because that whole episode was just about like, Hey, we exist. And I really like to have conversations about things that are overlooked humongous fungus I like to just because I have kind of an obsession with armillaria that genus of fungi, and Loki the spooky mushrooms episode was also one of my favorites was super fun to write. Oh yeah,
Alex 13:59
that was a really fun episode we actually recorded it on my bed and we had a soundboard of all these spooky sounds that were playing
Lera 14:09
from your phone
Alex 14:10
from my phone. It was it was very low quality like low production value but it was it was really fun to do and weave in all these facts I I also like the marine fungi I love the the Sai hub interview. ecology of psilocybin was mind blowing mycelium versus fruiting bodies with Jeff Shelton I hear and I look at sometimes I like stumble upon a forum. And I see a lot of people actually quoting that episode and I think it's a really important conversation. The zombie cicada episode that we just did was unbelievable is mind blowing was cool is funny. So probably my best editing of all the podcasts. The editing was crucial. I mean, who's really really good Marilyn shell Drake such a blessing. You know, both of our fungi and radiation episodes are super, super good. I have forgotten now, Dennis McKenna. He's been an idol of mine for since I was a young kid, so I was awesome to talk with them, you know, for for a long time and Sophia row was incredible. I mean, end of life with Thomas Hartle was so heartwarming. And I mean, there's I can't even it's like picking your favorite child. I mean, there's probably dozens I'm forgetting. But every single one has been special in their own way. It really brings this connection. Right. So I remember we had Gavin McIntyre on our, our episode of ecovative. And then, I don't know why a week later, a couple weeks later, we took a tour of ecovative. And then I think I met Namah a week or two later, we saw Matt Namah. And it was like, so unexpected and, and, you know, we became good friends. And it was just because we made this connection to share this this mushroom education. And in with Larry Evans, we're we're foraging with him non stop and Telluride, day after day going out in the woods and finding truffles and all this cool stuff. Like a week later, we have him on our podcast and, you know, forming that these really tight relationships with with the fungal communities so sacred and really special to have this platform to bring everybody together and a new people wanting to come into this field. It's so rich and really special.
Lera 16:35
I hope it's instrumental to you all. Thank you for just sticking with us. I love to see the trends going up and you know, our episode downloads, they get better and better. And it's awesome.
Alex 16:47
It's been a really nourishing fun time. So thank you, everyone for supporting us. We could not do without you seriously. So thank you for loving mushrooms as much as we do.
Lera 16:59
Yeah, and since our last kind of check in podcast, we've had a lot of new listeners. Just looking at the stats, I think we're up, like 3k new people. So hello. Welcome to the mushroom revival podcast. If you've made your way down the line, or have listened to some older episodes, you might know us a little better. But in case you don't, we thought we'd just play you know who we are. I feel like a lot of people wonder if we're dating
Alex 17:31
apps a fucking DVR. I love the shit out of lira. And I hopefully she loves the show me. We're both total goons. And you guys,
Lera 17:41
you think his full time job is being the boss at mushroom revival, but it's actually making fun of Lera
Alex 17:48
I'd have so much love all day. It is so much love. She's such an alien girl. And I mean, that was so much love. I mean, yeah, I've seen all parts of you. And it's beautiful. And and if you can see all parts of someone good, bad, ugly. And you know, and still love them even more than you got the right person. So I got that with you earlier. And I'm really happy to do this podcast with you. It's really special.
Lera 18:17
Likewise, thanks for making it happen.
Alex 18:20
So who are you? I know who you are, I think I'm getting to know you. And what are some favorite hobbies that you have?
Lera 18:32
Well, you've already alluded to some of that I love to learn. You know, I have two degrees, one in linguistics one and 3d visual arts or sculpture. And now I'm into science, and biology and mycology. So my taste for things is eclectic. And I love everything. I love the universe. And I love to bike. I love music, I got these great headphones, and I'm just like, always listening to new music. I love to read. You know, I like to explore. I'm always trying to find an excuse to go somewhere new. What about you?
Alex 19:11
I they've been changing and they definitely changed during COVID actually, with the start of mushroom revival, my hobbies of getting gotten less and less, I just have less time, free time. And you know, any way I can relax, because I'm spending most of my time just working. So I've been actually getting into gaming, and it's something that you know, as a kid, I was really into it and it's kind of nostalgic and you know, it's fun. I get to you know, go into this other universe really and be able to control a character and, you know, think critically and solve problems and you know, depending on what it is I see really beautiful like illustrations and And be able to do stuff in that reality that I can't do in this reality. And to be that middle way, right of being able to do yoga, meditate, but also play video games and not judge yourself for it. So I've been getting really into it recently. And then of course, just eating really good food, you know, traveling, which I haven't been doing enough of during COVID. And I'm really excited to get back out there.
Lera 20:24
And where in the world would you want to travel?
Alex 20:28
There's so many places, Southeast Asia. There's so many countries in Southeast Asia that haven't been to and I would love to just spend, you know, a few months just popping all around Madagascar and Papa New Guinea, I would just Oh, so beautiful. I'd love to go a few countries in in Africa, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali, I mean, Egypt, just, I mean, the history just to see the pyramids, I mean, unbelievable. Ethiopia, also the history, the food, the culture. Mali, there's such great music there and culture in Mali. A lot of stuff too.
Lera 21:09
Let's spin it. Yeah. And forever.
Alex 21:12
Actually, Japan is on my bucket list. I would love to go, you know, during cherry blossom. And just yeah, and there's a big mushroom scene there. So I'd love to visit a bunch of mushroom farms there. There's a bunch of Hawaiian islands that I would love to go to. I've only been to Hawaii. So you know, I have really good friends there and would love to just, I mean, Hawaii is fucking beautiful. And, you know, like Argentina, Brazil. So many places. I mean, I can go on forever and ever, but, but how about yourself?
Lera 21:52
Yeah, everywhere. Even even like Antarctica, I'd be down to go for a hot minute. I'm
Alex 21:59
not.
Lera 22:02
I just Okay, so there's a blogger, his name's Tim urban. And he went to like four of the most undesirable or like, unconventional places, he went to Greenland, North Korea. A couple other really random places that I can't remember. But I'm really intrigued by that. And I have this weird hobby where I'll go to Google Maps, and just like zoom in on somewhere random, find a business, like read the reviews, look at the pictures, just to see what this corner of the universe looks like. And I'll be like, right outside of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, I stare at maps, you guys I used to work for an office of study abroad back in college. There's this giant, big beautiful map that I looked at every day, I just would get obsessed with with one region at a time. So Jews, yeah,
Alex 22:55
she's really good at knowing the shapes of countries. And there's this game of what country is in my earphone that, that she's unbelievable, I suck at that. It's I'm really, really bad.
Lera 23:09
Well, okay, when I was learning, laser cutting, for my art degree, I was like, Okay, I'm just going to practice on this machine by cutting out the shapes of all the countries. Now I despise the Mercator projection and other maps that radically misrepresent the proportions of one country to the next. But that's a whole other conversation.
Alex 23:31
What are some of your pet peeves? What don't you like?
Lera 23:35
I don't like waste. I kind of am obsessed with obsessed and fascinated with how things come to be. And the more complicated the object, the more fascinating It is like an iPhone, for example. I do this thought experiment where you walk out into the raw Earth, like humans haven't been here yet. And you see all of this abundance of his life and then you hold up an Apple Mac, or an iPhone. So you are like, how did we use? How did we turn this material into something like that? And I'm just constantly thinking about this as a consumer. So at the store, you know, if I'm trying to buy kimchi and one comes in a plastic bag and one comes in a glass jar, I'm going for the jar because I'm thinking about where it comes from and where it will go. And I don't know. That's, that's a privileged place to be to be able to educate myself on where it came from and where it will go. It's also like, Yeah, sometimes that item is more expensive. Maybe I have the extra means to pay for that. But it does bother me. When I see unnecessary waste or waste that is like super easily mitigated. That's a pet peeve. I'm pretty sick of like, all the violence, the suffering the racism. I don't really know if I consider that a pet peeve. Though because it's not something that's, like subtle and so if that's the definition we're going I think light is super underestimated. When I come home and the light, you got the light all the way up. I'm like, dude, we got dimmers turn that down like you did great with the studio right now. But sometimes I'm just, you know, making the light. emulate what's going on outside is huge for me. What about your What are your pet peeves?
Alex 25:27
I think it really boils down to the ego. I in not into that drama Mama.
Lera 25:34
Yeah, I view the ego as kind of an autoimmune issue. It's like attacking your own body. And mean, the ego can go both ways and that you inflate it, to feed it. But you can also succumb to like I'm not worthy and identify with like, a lack of something or an abundance of something. And honestly, if I didn't read, Eckhart tolle's books,
Alex 26:02
I was about to say
Lera 26:03
that meditate. I don't know if I would have ever really been cognizant of it. But the fact that you if like just developing an awareness of it. super powerful.
Alex 26:14
Yeah. ekor told the power of now one of my favorite books, favorite mushroom,
Lera 26:19
whatever mushroom I'm hanging out with, but in the lab, I've just been really enjoying armillaria I mean, dude, what?
Alex 26:30
Yeah, we have two oranges with our valaria growing all over it just like above our kitchen sink right now.
Lera 26:38
I keep having dreams that I eat these oranges. It's I've had three dreams now. I'm sure it's edible. It's a honey mushroom stuffed animal but it doesn't look appetizing at all.
Alex 26:48
So one of the first pictures or video that I have of lire on my phone. Is her eating a stink corn egg. And I'm waiting raw. Yeah. And oh, yeah, it was disgusting. And yeah, you ate it. And I'm waiting for you to eat this armillaria orange and then I'll put them back to back. We'll give you one weird fungal thing to eat every year. I don't know if I can either make a montage.
Lera 27:16
I might have to just because I've had so many dreams about it now that I'm like, okay, there's something telling me to consume at least part of this, but I don't know. We pretty gross. But anyway, what's your favorite mushroom?
Alex 27:31
Definitely. So ossipee cubensis for sure. And I'm not going to pick our particular entomopathogenic fungi but I'm just gonna say all quarter steps.
Lera 27:43
Yeah, I mean, all mushrooms are magic.
Alex 27:46
They are. Thank you, everyone so so much again, for being part of this community that we are creating that the mushrooms are creating. You are so special. The mushrooms are so special. And thank you for being a part of it.
Lera 28:01
Yep. And once again, this is Episode 100 of the mushroom revival podcast. And next week we'll have Episode 101 all the way to infinity and beyond.
Alex 28:13
As always, much love and may the spores be with you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai ** Subject to error
