Mushrooms can save the world!

A few weeks back I wrote about a few novel approaches to combating flu symptoms.   In the article, I briefly mentioned Paul Stamets and his research documenting the direct anti-viral effects of mushrooms in the US Defense Department’s BioSheild program.

Today, I finally watched a video that was recommended to me a few months back.  It’s entitled “6 Ways That Mushrooms Can Save The World”, given by Paul Stamets at the 2008 TED Conference.  It’s pretty darn cool and I highly recommend it!

While this video does discuss the US Bioshield program (specifically making mention of H1N1, H5N1, pox and other viruses), this presentation goes far beyond ways mushrooms can benefit our immune system.  As the title suggests, Stamets lists six ways the mycelium fungus can help save the world including: cleaning polluted soil, making insecticides and even serve as means of carbon positive production of energy.

Here’s a link to the YouTube video.