Fungi on Science Friday! :Cornell Mushroom Blog

Fungi on Science Friday!

September 15, 2008 | category: Editors, fungi, Fungi in human culture, video, weird

A dispatch from Kathie Hodge, who is always ready to explore other media

The small world of a birdâ€™s nest fungus, Crucibulum laeve We all know that fungi are cool, and we are all baffled and saddened that they just don’t get enough press. Well that’s all changed now. I was on National Public Radio last week, talking fungus on the venerable show Science Friday. David Fischer joined me to field calls, and there were feature interviews with Kelli Hoover (who discovered a yeast symbiont in the bellies of Asian longhorn beetles), and Arturo Casadevall (coauthor of the hot American Academy of Microbiology colloquium paper, The Fungal Kingdom: Diverse and Essential Roles in Earth’s Ecosystem).

You can listen to the Sept 12 show here.

and earlier in the show, Gavin Sherlock on the hybrid origins of lager yeasts.

Also, check out the Sci Fri video, which features MSA President, Roy Halling, along with a couple of our own timeless time lapse videos:

(having trouble with the video? view it on the Science Friday website)

Curious about my gratuitous photo? It’s a tiny civilization: the bird’s nest fungus Crucibulum laeve growing on a single, squirrel-chewed butternut, with a leaf as a flag. The bird’s nests are young and have yet to shed the membrane covering the little spore-packet “eggs.” George Barron will show you how they’ll look when ripe and waiting for raindrops.

6 Comments

Comments

6 Responses to “ Fungi on Science Friday! ”

Kathie Hodge on September 15th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

In accordance with the prime directive, the pre-warp bird’s nest civilization was replaced in its woodland home. No harm done.
Internets Was Yes on September 15th, 2008 at 7:28 pm

Hey, I heard you on Science friday. It was great, way to spread the fungal love!
Kathie Hodge on September 30th, 2008 at 11:57 am

My colleague Bob Beyfuss talking mushrooms on ESPN (yes, ESPN! Is mushrooming a competitive sport?)

A beautiful high speed Pilobolus discharge video from Nik Money’s lab (set to music), to accompany the nice paper of Yafetto et al. in PLoS One .

Gary Lincoff on WNYC radio’s Please Explain: Mushrooms. (Gary is the author of the Audubon Field Guide).
Bob Wachter on October 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 pm

I just Googled the description of some pics I recently took and luckily wound up here. I captured the White Bird’s nest in several different stages. There were tens of thousands of them growing in mulch, in dense shade… after quite a bit of rainfall (in the Baltimore, Maryland area, BTW.)

Thanks for the help on identifying these odd creatures. Feel free to use my pics if it helps your collection. Just credit me if you don’t mind.

http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g42/ravenfn/White%20Birds%20Nest%20fungi/
Dennis on October 21st, 2008 at 12:25 am

umm maybe my question not related to this post, not long ago i found a mushroom the color are white and looklike umbrella, its dangereous mushroom ? and what its name ? because many of this of mushroom grow at my village.

thanks
D/P
lora johns on October 30th, 2009 at 2:11 pm

I love the time lapse in the video! At this time of the year I see mushrooms all over and wish I knew what they were! But I am sticking to my mushroom kit for eating!!!

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