Merry Christmas, Fungi Fam!
Fungi Friday's - December 23rd, 2022 - Issue #62
…And Happy Holidays too!
Hey Fungi Fam,
We are now only eight days away from ringing in 2023. In this busy time of holidays, spending time with family, and hopefully some internal reflection, I want to take a moment to tell you all how thankful I am for each and every one of you that continue to show up and support our little publication on this obscure corner of the internet! We truly appreciate it.
11 perfect presents for people who love mushrooms
If there is one thing we learned in 2022, it’s that mushrooms aren’t just having a moment. They’re also at the center of a movement helping people across the globe experience the recreational and medicinal benefits of psychedelics. So because 2022 was the year of the fungi, let’s kick off this weeks features looking at the perfect gifts for the mushroom lover in your life!
So without further ado, here is the list:
Mushroom oracle cards
Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook
Mushroom identification poster
Faux fur throw blanket
Mushroom earrings
Mushroom glass cup with lid
Mushroom Baggu
Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World
Stash Logix bamboo smart jar
Mushroom cutting board
Note To Self journal
The article contains links and breaks down the reasoning behind each of these thoughtful gifts, so if anything here sounds interesting, click the link above and check em out!
“Nobody Saw This Coming” – Scientists Uncover a New Branch of Fungal Evolution
Feature number two this week covers a rather obscure topic in fungi land. You see, a new study helps clarify the evolutionary origins of the “platypus of fungi.”
This interestingly named fungi links approximately 600 seemingly disparate fungi that never quite found a fit along the fungal family tree. The research, which was led by the University of Alberta, used genome sequencing to give these peculiar creatures their own classification home.
“They don’t have any particular feature that you can see with the naked eye where you can say they belong to the same group. But when you go to the genome, suddenly this emerges,” says Toby Spribille, principal investigator on the project and associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.
These “oddball” fungi were previously dispersed across seven different classes, equivalent to the differentiation between mammals and reptiles. “They were classified, but they were classified into such different parts of the fungal side of the tree of life that people never suspected they were related to each other.”
Some example of these fungi, which i’d bet most have never heard of include earth tongues — eerie tongue-shaped fungi — beetle gut microbes, and a fungus found in tree sap in northern Alberta. They also include some unusual lichens that survive in extreme habitats such as South America’s Atacama Desert, the driest non-polar desert in the world.
“What is really fascinating is that despite these fungi looking so different, they have a lot in common at the level of their genomes,” says Spribille. “Nobody saw this coming.”
Psychedelic-assisted therapy, coming to a health plan near you
And for our final feature of this week’s holiday edition, let’s discuss something that sounded unthinkable as recently as a decade ago… the use of psychoactive chemicals for therapeutic purposes through our healthcare providers.
As society winds down the war on drugs, more and more are coming around to the consideration that there may actually be therapeutic uses of controlled substances. And due to this increasing acceptance, the scientific and mental health professionals have begun to study the efficacy of psychedelics such as ketamine, MDMA and psilocybin in the treatment of depression and other mental health conditions.
Psilocybin, in particular, has been shown to significantly relieve major depressive disorder symptoms. This relief from symptoms may even last for a year or longer, lending credence to the efficacy of psilocybin and other psychedelic therapies. And the success of these studies and clinical trials appears to be having a major impact on mainstream culture and public policy. In 2020, Oregon became the first U.S. state to create a legal system for supervised psilocybin experiences. California, Vermont and Hawaii are also considering legal frameworks for psychedelics. Most recently, during the U.S. midterm elections, Colorado became the second state to legalize psilocybin use in state-regulated centers. And finally, the U.S. Veterans Administration has been studying psychedelic-assisted therapies — a program that has received support from both political parties.
Given the potential to treat and improve mental health, it's only natural for benefit brokers and advisers to consider whether employer-provided insurance could cover psychedelic-assisted therapy. Let’s suppose psychedelic-assisted therapy shows consistent and proven efficacy in assisting patients in bettering their mental health. If that proves to be the case, it makes sense from both a business and ethical perspective for health insurers and self-insured employers to at least consider covering these treatments.
If proven to increase longer-term health in patients, such coverage could save money for insurers, employers and health plan members – providing lasting mental health relief to patients in need.
And so as we continue to better understand the positive impacts of controlled substances such as psilocybin when used in conjunction with professional therapeutic methods, we can start to reimagine healthcare as a whole. The effect of these studies, future of potential coverage, and bright light at the end of this mental health crisis all become clearer. As we move toward a society that prioritizes mental health, psychedelic-assisted therapy may be a frontrunner in the treatment of anxiety, depression and PTSD.
Want even more? Here are some other interesting, mushroom focused reads of the week:
DO GENETICS DETERMINE HOW YOU RESPOND TO PSYCHEDELICS? A NEW STUDY SUGGESTS THEY MIGHT
‘This Is Our Protest’: Black People Are Taking Shrooms to Heal From Racism
California Senate Reintroduces Bill To Decriminalize Mushrooms
What Are Psilocybin Mushroom Spores? Everything You Need to Know
'I Microdosed Magic Mushrooms for a Year—It Changed My Perspective on Life'
Study Finds up to 9% of Psilocybin, LSD Experiences Result in Flashbacks
Psychedelic Drugs – Easing the Regulatory Hurdles for Development
As always, thank you for reading this weeks edition of Fungi Friday’s! We are especially thankful for all of you who spend your Friday lunch with us, learning about all things Fungi. If you enjoyed what you found, please feel free to forward to friends also interested in the Fungi Community!
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