Clark mycologists analyze what\u2019s powering fungi intrigue<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><br \/>\n <br \/>\nMushrooms are having a moment. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/departments\/biology\/\" aria-label=\"Biology department website\">Biology<\/a> professors <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.clarku.edu\/faculty\/facultybio.cfm?id=355\" aria-label=\"David Hibbett bio\">David Hibbett<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.clarku.edu\/faculty\/facultybio.cfm?id=1204\" aria-label=\"Javier Tabima bio\">Javier Tabima<\/a> say a desire to connect with nature is fueling a trend among young people who enjoy foraging for mushrooms and studying fungi. On this episode of <strong>Challenge. Change.<\/strong>, Hibbett and Tabima discuss the mysticism around mushrooms, why it’s unique to have two mycologists on a college campus, and the excitement of discovering a particular fungus, basidiobolus, in Massachusetts for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>“People are really interested in mushrooms and other fungi — maybe even a little too interested,” Hibbett says. “There’s a lot of hype around medicinal mushrooms and the use of fungi for bioremediation. A lot of people are just ready to believe that mushrooms are the solution for all of humanity’s problems, so we need more critical thinking.”<\/p>\n<p>Listen and subscribe on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4UuYAjq1d3Hq45cjwxoCNL\" aria-label=\"Listen on Spotify\">Spotify<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/challenge-change\/id1608025510\" aria-label=\"Listen on Apple podcasts\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Challenge. Change.<\/strong> is produced by Melissa Hanson and Andrew Hart for Clark University. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25765\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25765\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25765\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022-Mushroom-Forage-76-scaled-3.jpg\" alt=\"Professor David Hibbett and students examine a mushroom in nature.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25765\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor David Hibbett and students on a mushroom foray in the Hadwen Arboretum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clark mycologists analyze what\u2019s powering fungi intrigue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13182,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"#525250","story_headerImg":13182,"section_label":"Challenge. Change. podcast","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[223,241,227,239],"displayed_author":[237],"featured":[],"topic":[244,132,150,160,300,207,176,162,163],"class_list":["post-13181","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clark-community","category-environment-sustainability","category-science-technology","category-worcester-world","displayed_author-melissa-hanson","topic-biology","topic-environment-and-sustainability","topic-faculty","topic-faculty-research","topic-major-in-biology","topic-massachusetts","topic-podcast","topic-research","topic-sciences"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mushroom mania | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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