I love fungi! Thank you @ewkaw for creating FungiFriday.

I don't have a huge library of fungi photos yet.

All these photos were taken on hikes in North Carolina. They are always great finds! So many variations and colors.

Category	(Fungi Friday)
Camera	(Nikon D70)

I would also like to add some fascinating information on fungi that some of you might not be aware of.

Hope you find this post both inspiring and informative. And I hope that by the end of reading, you'll never look at another mushroom the same way again.

My contribution to #FungiFriday by @ewkaw

I hope many of you will join as there are only 2 simple rules:
when Friday comes post your own, original photo/drawing/art/food/anything-at-all of any type of fungi (yes, I will check and report stolen images!)
add #FungiFriday tag (it doesn't have to be your first tag)
That's all :)

Information worth knowing.

Paul Stamets is the authority on all things 'fungi'. He is a visionary that has dedicated his life to studying all the amazing qualities of mushrooms. He claims they will save the world. They just may!

Youtube Video Source

Here you will find Paul Stamets website - somewhere buried within it's pages are a lifetime of studies and work he's done.
http://www.fungi.com/about-paul-stamets.html

Environmental applications (now being termed, 'Mycoremediation')

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Radiation Cleanup - Used at the Chernobyl site as well other sites around the world.

https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/how-mushrooms-can-clean-radioactive-contamination-8-step-plan

Oil Spill Cleanup - This was actually put on the table to clean up the Gulf Coast Oil Spill, but the EPA eventually buckled and went with CoreExit (Still being used and very toxic for not only ocean life but that of human life)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/3349086/Plan-to-use-mushrooms-to-clean-up-oil-contamination.html

Other Pollutant cleanup -

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/02/earthrx-how-community-mycoremediation-projects-can.html

“This process took over a year and half and was successful at reducing the contaminant by over 90 percent.” ...“The soil was then able to be used for landscaping and was no longer a concern to the Klamath River or local wildlife.”

Battery recycling - using fungi to extract dangerous metals - Extracts lithium and cobalt and spits them out!

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/fungi-eat-up-old-batteries-and-spit-out-metals/1017317.article

Cleanup of waterways from toxic metals to e. coli -

https://www.permaculture.co.uk/readers-solutions/using-fungi-clean-pollutants

"The project intend to study the ability of mycellium to remove mercury and other heavy pollutants from soil and water. Studies have shown the Stropharia species, or 'the Garden Giant' is more effective for removing E. coli, so plans are underway to add the strain into the mix."

Building material and infrastructure:

Self healing buildings and infrastructure!

http://http://www.newsweek.com/how-buildings-future-could-heal-themselves-using-mushrooms-784456

Youtube Video Source

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608717/how-mushrooms-could-repair-our-crumbling-infrastructure/

Mushrooms as medicine and immune system builder:

In Cancer (I highly recommend typing in turkey tail, reishi, lion's mane, maitake into the NIH search - studies for therapeutic uses in cancer is exploding):

https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/medicinal-mushrooms-cancer/

http://http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/mushrooms-in-cancer-treatment

Other diseases:

Medicinal mushroom science: Current perspectives, advances, evidences, and challenges.
http://https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25179726

Medicinal mushrooms and fungi are thought to possess approximately 130 medicinal functions, including antitumor, immunomodulating, antioxidant, radical scavenging, cardiovascular, anti-hypercholesterolemic, antiviral, antibacterial, anti-parasitic, antifungal, detoxification, hepatoprotective, and antidiabetic effects.

A thorough discussion on immune building and protecting from mushrooms currently being looked at for therapeutic applications for disease. Very extensive article.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684115/

So, the next time you're hiking in the woods, walking your dogs or find a cluster of mushrooms growing in your front yard, think of the amazing network of mycelium that is growing right under your feet attached to that great wonder of a mushroom.

They might just be what we need to save the world.