[Elsevier: Field Mycology]

The use of odours in the identification
of mushrooms and toadstools
January 2020

Research published in 2014 (Bushdid et al.) established that humans can detect 1 trillion odours. The human genome contains approximately 400 functional olfactory receptor genes each of which codes for a specific olfactory receptor protein, which can combine with the compound causing the odour.

Eventually the combination of an odorant molecule and its olfactory receptors results in the initiation of a nerve impulse which is then registered as an odour. The sense of smell of different humans varies considerably from no sense at all to a very acute sense for many different odours.

A common difficulty that faces anyone trying to aid the identification of a fungus lies in the necessity to describe the smell of a fungal fruiting body with a recognisable odour.

Helpful choices of well-known smells are usually required to enable the correct identification of the fungus in question. An example: based on their smells the genus Agaricus contains two main groups. The smell in one group is described as almonds (marzipan) or aniseed. My nose detects a distinct difference between these two odours, aniseed being the smell of certain boiled sweets whereas almond resembles marzipan. However many people seem to be unable to distinguish between them.

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On a frosty February morning in North Carolina’s Piedmont region, the enterprising trio who has finally broken America’s strange truffle curse walks beneath orderly rows of loblolly pine, trying very hard not to step on the precious nuggets beneath their feet. Nancy Rosborough—the self-described “ghetto kid” from Washington, D.C., whose wobbly start-up, Mycorrhiza Biotech, might just be saved by the golf-ball-size tubers erupting out of the red dirt—looks around, trying to contain her emotions.

After 15 years of struggling to bring her truffle-farming vision to life, she is staring at two acres of validation. “Nobody believed in us,” she says, exchanging glances with Omoanghe Isikhuemhen, the mycologist who invented Mycorrhiza Biotech’s system for truffle cultivation. “They mocked us. They thought we were just some podunk people.”

She nods toward Richard Franks, Burwell Farms’ chief scientific officer, standing beside her in a Duke Blue Devils sweatshirt, a ball cap pulled over his short white hair. “And then we found one person who believed in us.”

Franks was expecting a few hundred truffles from this two-acre plot; instead, he is getting a few thousand, well beyond his rosiest projections.

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Nine years is a pretty long time to wait for your first harvest, but not if you’re a truffle grower in Sonoma County.

Last Wednesday, after pacing through his family’s Geyserville hazelnut orchards with Leo the truffle dog, Seth Angerer finally found a truffle — specifically, a 5.03-ounce Sonoma County black melanosporum. It’s the first cultivated truffle found in Alexander Valley, according to Angerer’s father and collaborator, Fran Angerer.

The family seek out the rare and valuable culinary fungus with their truffle-hunting Lagotto Romagnolo dogs, a specialized breed with a keen sense of smell and a curly-haired face so cute it’s painful.

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A captivating exploration into the secretive and sensuous world of truffles, the elusive food that has captured hearts, imaginations, and palates worldwide.

The scent of one freshly unearthed white truffle in Barolo was all it took to lead Rowan Jacobsen down a rabbit hole into a world of secretive hunts, misty woods, black-market deals, obsessive chefs, quixotic scientists, muddy dogs, maddening smells, and some of the most memorable meals ever created. Truffles attract dreamers, schemers, and sensualists.

People spend years training dogs to find them underground. They plant forests of oaks and wait a decade for truffles to appear. They pay $3,000 a pound to possess them. They turn into quivering puddles in their presence. Why?

Truffle Hound is the fascinating account of Rowan's quest to find out, a journey that would lead him from Italy to Istria, Hungary, Spain, England, and North America.
 

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The potentially deadly disease is caused by a soil-borne fungus made worse by rising rates of dust storms. In California’s Central Valley, farmworkers are bearing the brunt of the problem. Victor Gutierrez doesn’t know when he contracted valley fever, an illness caused by a soil-borne fungus, but he’s narrowed it down to a few possible jobs he worked during the summer of 2011.

In the nectarine orchards, Gutierrez recalls, “the wind was really strong, and we were almost falling off our ladders. The dust would rise up in the fields and we would get lost in in [it].” The grape harvest that year wasn’t much better. “We would walk out of the vineyard with our faces full of dirt. Only our eyes were visible,” he said. When he showered at night, he could see the layer of soil washing off his body.
Late that summer, Gutierrez started experiencing flu-like symptoms—a cough, night sweats, exhaustion, and a strange feeling that he was burning up on the inside. Gutierrez ignored it and kept working for fear of losing his job. But when he struggled to breathe, he went to see a doctor, who gave him a dose of antibiotics and told him to buy a humidifier. The next day his lungs filled up with fluid and he felt so bad that he went to a local clinic. This time, they tested him for valley fever, and it came back positive.

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A possible canine vaccine for Valley fever took one giant step closer to becoming a reality thanks to a University of Arizona College of Medicine—Tucson-led study that showed the vaccine provided a high level of protection against Coccidioides posadasii, a fungus that causes Valley fever.

The development of a potential canine vaccine serves as a positive harbinger of a human vaccine.

Valley fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis, is primarily a disease of the lungs caused by the inhalation of airborne particles of the fungus Coccidioides, which is found in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. Dogs are very susceptible to Valley fever, and it is estimated that Valley fever costs Arizona dog owners at least $60 million per year.

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[SF Gate]  ‘The mad mushroom rush’: As a popular hobby
has exploded, it’s straining Salt Point State Park
December 6, 2021

On a trail within Salt Point State Park about 90 miles north of San Francisco, Brooke Bingham reaches into a plastic bag and pulls out a giant matsutake mushroom. Then an even bigger coral mushroom. Then several smaller golden ones — maybe honey mushrooms?

These are just some of the spoils of four hours spent within the only state park in California to allow mushroom foraging. And for its diverse mix of conifers, proximity to the coast and preponderance of fog, this is prime fungi territory.

Bingham is relatively new to the endeavor and therefore “not super seasoned,” she says. So the plan is to bring the mushrooms home to Occidental, use a book to identify them and make sure they’re all safe to eat.

For edible mushroom enthusiasts like Bingham, it’s difficult to find places to legally harvest fungi. The vast majority of the good spots are on private land or tucked away in parks where the practice is outlawed.

Although plenty of foragers trespass and gather mushrooms illegally, those like Bingham prefer to abide by the law. Soon, though, they could be out of luck.

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Kanu Caplash was lying on a futon in a medical center in Connecticut, wearing an eye mask and listening to music. But his mind was far away, tunneling down through layer upon layer of his experiences. As part of a study of MDMA, a psychedelic drug also known as molly or ecstasy, Caplash was on an inner journey to try to ease his symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Academic groups devoted to studying psychedelics have sprung up at Johns Hopkins, Yale, New York University Langone Health, the University of California, San Francisco and other research institutions. Private investors have ponied up millions of dollars for research on psychedelic drugs. The state of Oregon has started the process of legalizing therapeutic psilocybin, the key chemical in hallucinogenic mushrooms; lawmakers in other states and cities are considering the same move.

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[The Guardian]
World’s vast networks of underground
fungi to be mapped for first time
November 30, 2021

Vast networks of underground fungi – the “circulatory system of the planet” – are to be mapped for the first time, in an attempt to protect them from damage and improve their ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide.

Fungi use carbon to build networks in the soil, which connect to plant roots and act as nutrient “highways”, exchanging carbon from plant roots for nutrients. For instance, some fungi are known to supply 80% of phosphorus to their host plants.

Underground fungal networks can extend for many miles but are rarely noticed, though trillions of miles of them are thought to exist around the world. These fungi are vital to the biodiversity of soils and soil fertility, but little is known about them.

Many hotspots of mycorrhizal fungi are thought to be under threat, from the expansion of agriculture, urbanisation, pollution, water scarcity and changes to the climate.

The new project, from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), will involve the collection of 10,000 samples around the world, from hotspots that are being identified through artificial intelligence technology.

Jane Goodall, the conservationist, who is advising the project, said: “An understanding of underground fungal networks is essential to our efforts to protect the soil, on which life depends, before it is too late.”

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