io9: Mushrooms

This is what your brain on drugs really looks like

Robert T. Gonzalez — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:05:00 PST

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Scientists this week published a study that reveals what the human brain looks like under the influence of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms. More »

What it's like to play a mushroom as a trumpet

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:15:00 PDT

Boston area mushroom merchant Benjamin Maleson knows a thing or two about musical mycology. Watch him play "The Trumpet of Death," a melodious (and not poisonous) mushroom you can blast like a kazoo. Watch him show you how. See also: Vienna's Vegetable Orchestra. More »

Before you kick the bucket, be sure to don your Mushroom Death Suit

Cyriaque Lamar — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:45:00 PDT

Designer Jae Rhim Lee is concerned about the carcinogenic affects of the funerary preservative formaldehyde. That's why she's invented the Infinity Burial Suit — a.k.a. the Mushroom Death Suit — a postmortem garment designed to consume the wearer's corpse. More »

Glow-in-the-dark mushrooms rediscovered after 170 years

Alasdair Wilkins — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 09:00:00 PDT

In 1840, English botanist George Gardner was traveling in Brazil. One night, he noticed some boys playing with a strange, glowing object. To his shock, he had encountered a bioluminescent mushroom. It's only taken 170 years to find some more. More »

The self-portraits of an artist under the influence of meth, PCP, and other drugs

Lauren Davis — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 12:00:00 PST

Artist Bryan Lewis Saunders explores the effects of various drugs — legal and illegal — on his self-perception by creating self-portraits while under the influence. This is his face on drugs. More »

Solving The Mysteries Of Cancer Fighting Parasites

Tim Barribeau — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:00:00 PST

Could a Chinese fungus provide a crucial missing link to new cancer treatments? Scientists have struggled for decades with one major drawback of the Cordyceps, a parasitic mushroom — but now they may have cracked the riddle. More »

Glow-in-the-Dark Mushrooms Shed Light on Luminescence

Lauren Davis — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:38:22 PDT

These mushrooms may not have any hallucinogenic properties, but they are psychedelic in their own right, emitting a yellow-green glow in the darkness. Seven new species of luminescent mushrooms give fungal enthusiasts new insight into mushrooms' glowing evolution. More »

Don't Eat the Glowing Mushrooms

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:40:00 PST

You might already know about the glowing mushrooms of Japan. Every spring, the rains cause bioluminescent fungi to peep out from tree trunks and forest floors. For years scientists believed that these rare mushrooms grew nowhere else in the world. But now the glowers turn out to thrive in the forests of Brazil, too. Four new species like these, pictured, have been discovered there since 2002. More »

The Gray Caps Will Take Over the World with Their Mushroom Brain Implants

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:30:53 PST

John Coulthart has just posted his cover design for the re-release of Jeff VanderMeer's novel, Shriek: An Afterword. This is the cover image, by Ben Templesmith — it shows a mysterious "gray cap," one of an oppressed underground people who have this bizarre mushroom tech that will allow them to take over a city. You can see the full glory of Coulthart's book cover below. More »