fungi | Silver Magazine

Health

The best mushrooms for good health

Whether cooked or in powdered form, many mushrooms can give good health benefits. Here’s our list of the best mushrooms for your health as provided by nutritionist Tawnya Ritco. You can incorporate them into recipes from soups to stews or sandwiches or find them in pill and powder form from good retailers. Sun mushroom (Agaricus blazei) Agaricus has long been recognized for its ability to galvanize immune response, reduce both physical and mental stress and help the body to detoxify. It also possesses powerful anti-inflammatory action. Red Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) The Red Reishi mushroom has long been known in traditional Chinese medicine as the mushroom of immortality—a claim that’s been backed up by scientists who have found that it increases longevity in mice and may possibly do the same for humans. It supports bet- ter sleep, helps with calming and de-stressing the body and supports the immune system. Maitake (Grifola frondosa) A powerful antioxidant, Maitake— or

Alex Hurst November 24, 2021

Longevity

The entangled world of fungi

Most of us just think of fungi as their fruit, mushrooms and how tasty they can be. Fungi though, are far more amazing than that. And they are deeply entangled with our very existence. /DEK There is even a theory that humans became intelligent because our ancient ancestors, perhaps apes, ate some psilocybin, also known as “magic mushrooms” and the result was unlocking the neurological paths that opened our minds. Theoretically. More recently, we have discovered the Wood Wide Web. How trees and plants are connected by mycelium, a type of fungi and the most prevalent in the world. Scientists have proven that trees use this network of fungus to share nutrients and communicate with each other. What is still up for debate is if fungi are benevolent in doing this and why exactly they do this, but they do. Some trees will send nutrients to other trees that are

Alex Hurst May 19, 2021

Longevity

What can viruses teach us?

Viruses may be primitive—but they do a lot of experiments and adapt fast. Could we learn a thing or two from them? The biosphere is a fancy word for the container that contains all the life on Earth. After 4.5 billion years of evolution, it’s unimaginably complex. So far, a total of 1.3 million species have been identified, out of a basket of between 5.3 million to 1 trillion. This extreme range exists partly because the border between life and non-life is not so clear—and so is the definition of species. Microbes alone can be divided into six major types: bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa, algae, and viruses. Most scientists don’t consider viruses a life form. Others disagree. We humans lie at the other end of the evolutionary scale. We’re pretty smart, up to a point. Tools have made us apex predators, but physically we’re not that imposing. As the historian

David Holt July 13, 2020