I recently watched this amazing interview with Paul Stamets, one of the world’s foremost mycologists, on the Joe Rogan Experience. (And in case you missed it Lost Empire Herbs was recently featured in an episode of Rogan’s show where Ben Greenfield mentioned our Ant Extract. Check it out HERE. )
Anyway, this is a phenomenal interview well worth spending the two hours to watch or listen. It is this kind of information that made me such a huge fan of mushrooms in the first place!
Below you’ll find some of my bullet-pointed notes, that, while not time-stamped, are in order of appearance.
NOTES
* While the Chinese created gunpowder, European’s created the rifle with the flint sparked guns lit by punk from mushrooms.
* “German felt” is a clothing like material that is made of mushrooms.
* Mycophobia – The fear of mushrooms
* 23 primates consume mushrooms (humans being one of them)
* Estimated 5 million species of fungi.
* Fungi outnumber plants somewhere between 5 to 10 to 1.
* 30% of the healthy soil is fungal mass.
* For every meter of a tree root, there is a kilometer of mycelial mass.
* We share more common ancestry with fungi than any other kingdom of life.
* Fungal tips in networks allow them to code new sequences in their DNA quickly depending on the environment.
* Microbiome bacteria are selected by the fungus present.
* To say that nature isn’t intelligent is indefensible as nature gave rise to intelligent humans.
* The largest living organism on Earth is a 22-acre mycelial mat, of the Honey mushroom, in the Pacific Northwest.
* Paul Stamets theorizes that the honey mushroom is a meadow-maker, killing off trees and freeing up water.
* The oldest fossilized mycelium was found in lava 2.4 billion years old. This is the oldest multi-celled organism known.
* The oldest fossilized fully formed mushroom is 1.4 billion years old.
* A slime mold is capable of solving mazes in search of food sources.
* The “Stoned Ape Hypothesis” by Terence McKenna is that psilocybin mushrooms doubled the human brains size in a short period of time.
* Psilocybin allows you to reset neural pathways to fear, including PTSD
* Epigenetic Neurogenesis, courage and empathy from psilocybin as a “nootropic vitamin”
* 440,000 prisoners survey – One experience with psilocybin had a 27% reduction in burglary and larceny, 18% of violent crimes, compared to those who didn’t have that experience.
* Movement in DEA to move psilocybin from schedule 1 to schedule.
* “They’ve never seen anything with such a strong safety profile that gives so much benefit at so little cost for such a long time.”
* Paul Stamets cured his stuttering one-time using psilocybin
* Lion’s mane increases neurogenesis without being psychedelic, increasing myelination and decreasing amyloid plaques.
* The #1 thing to preserve cognitive function in aging is Lion’s Mane mushroom.
* Stacking psilocybin with lion’s mane and niacin (vitamin B3) to drive the neurogenerative benefits to the edges of the nervous system.
* Penicillin may have tipped the scales of World War 2.
* Over 700 patients have gone from John Hopkins studies in using psilocybin. 70% of people describe it as beneficial.
* Mushrooms, and other herbs like henbane, were banned from beers in the Bavarian Beer Act in 1516.
* The “Stoned Ape Hypothesis” also says that language may have evolved because of psilocybin use.
* Research is underway to investigate neurogenesis in a sensory experience such as increased ability to hear.
* Your brain on drugs…
You can read the full article HERE.
* Microdosing 1/10th of a gram. 5 days on, 2 days off.
* 35% of your food is directly dependent on bee pollination, and many other foods are indirectly dependent.
* Colony Collapse Disorder could wipe out all bees in ten years.
* Bees are actually attracted to mycelium for anti-bacterial, anti-viral and other properties, which can prevent Colony Collapse Disorder.
* Mycelium is part of the immune system of the environment.
* Agarikon was called “Elixirium ad longum vitum,” the elixir of long life.
* Agarikon is strong against bacteria and viruses, including smallpox and tuberculosis. Many other mushrooms have similar compounds that are effective.
* “We should save the old growth forests as a matter of national defense.”
* Portabello’s should be cooked at high temperatures to deactivate agaratines.
* Turkey Tail mushrooms were studied, funded by NIH, for immune system support, and using combining nicely in conventional treatment of cancer.
*An epidemiological study in Japan found that enoki mushrooms were likely helpful in reducing cancer across the board.
* Cordyceps is a complicated polyculture of several fungal species, where one mold chases the other. Taxonomy is in flux as the science is changing.
* “The psilocybin experience might be one portal of entering into the multiverse.”
One other thing I need to mention. Paul says not to get your mushrooms from China, the reason being is contamination with heavy metals. I agree that that is likely the issue in many cases, but that is why we do independent lab testing on all of ours.
Each of our Chinese sourced mushrooms, including Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, scores a B, A or A+ as far as independent heavy metal standards are concerned.
The new Mushroom Alchemy tincture, with mushrooms coming from North America is also ranked up there.
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I watched this whole video too when it first came out and was absolutely blown away by some of his claims, especially that there is quite possibly some sort of strange “intelligence” in mushrooms. Very entertaining stuff.