Microgreens: Fungi that bleed, glow, and hijack brains (yes, really)

Imagine a fungus slipping into your bloodstream, hijacking every single neuron and freezing you alive while it knits its own flesh with yours.

If you were an ant or a spider, that could be you — but thankfully, Ophiocordyceps doesn’t (yet) affect humans.

In this Microgreens episode, we’re peering into the terrifying and slightly creepy world of fungi.

In our main episode, we covered why fungi are important. Today, we’re getting into their dark side...

In this episode I share:

• What the bleeding tooth fungus is and what it does
• The real-life zombie fungus and why it won’t affect humans any time soon
• How glow-in-the-dark mushrooms work
• What the dead man’s fingers fungus is
• The potential health benefits of lion’s mane mushrooms
• What slime mould is and why it can move

Episode quote:

“In fact, we are closer related to fungi than they are to plants.”

Episode sources:

Hydnellum peckii overview and atromentin info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydnellum_peckii

Zombie-ant fungus life-cycle (National Geographic): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants

50-million-year fossil zombie fungus: https://www.sci.news/paleontology/allocordyceps-baltica-09786.html

Fungal bioluminescence pathway transferred to tobacco (open-access paper): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7681015/

Dead man’s fingers ecology note: https://purduelandscapereport.org/article/dead-mans-fingers/Lion’s mane

(Hericium) neuro-protective review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5987239/

Slime-mould maze-solving experiment (Nature 2000): https://www.nature.com/articles/35035159