This is the fourth article in a six-part series exploring critical themes shaping the future of functional mushrooms, in partnership with Finnish biotech company KÄÄPÄ Biotech . For centuries, chaga has been one of nature’s most powerful secrets. In the Nordics, in the cold, on slow-growing birch forests, this charcoal-black conk develops over many years. Throughout that time it accumulates the bioactive compounds that have made it an essential part of traditional medicine ac

Corteva Agriscience has formed a joint venture with pharmaceutical company Hexagon Bio to develop natural crop protection products using fungal compounds

Researchers have created the first large-scale dataset for training AI to analyse mycelium growth patterns, comprising over 20,000 high-resolution images of four fungal species.

Researchers have successfully transformed liquid waste from carrot processing into high-protein fungal mycelium, achieving yields of up to 15 grammes per litre with protein content reaching 31%

Penicillium has been named Microbe of the Year 2026, recognising its role in producing antibiotics that have saved millions of lives since 1928. Industrial strains now produce hundreds of thousands of times more penicillin than the original discovery, with global production reaching 50,000 tonnes annually

The Fungi Film Festival, now in its 6th edition, showcases 16 films from 8 countries exploring mushrooms, lichens, and micro fungi beyond typical infection narratives

Too long to read? Go for the highlights below. Refugee-led initiatives in Uganda and Kenya are training thousands in low-cost mushroom cultivation, creating revenue streams through products ranging from oyster mushroom coffee to medicinal skincare African mushroom entrepreneurs challenge persistent misconceptions that fungi cannot be cultivated, demonstrating that mushroom farming offers faster income generation and better climate resilience than traditional crops With 1.5 bi

China's National Health Commission has granted the country's first regulatory approval for mycoprotein, establishing detailed national specifications that provide clarity for future applications

A mushroom sold in Asian markets causes remarkably consistent hallucinations of miniature people in 96% of affected individuals, a phenomenon documented independently across China, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines

MIT chemists have synthesized verticillin A for the first time since its discovery in 1970, overcoming molecular complexity that stymied researchers for decades