Shroom Sabha is a community-founded, community-led, non-profit festival dedicated to fungi and the many worlds they connect. Conceived by a group of mycophiles who wanted to share their fascination beyond specialist circles, it has grown into India's first and only festival devoted entirely to fungi. More than an annual event, Shroom Sabha is an attempt to cultivate a fungal culture in India—one rooted in curiosity, ecological literacy, creativity, and care. The festival is s

Researchers from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and São Paulo State University (UNESP) have isolated four fungi from the gut of the cotton bollworm caterpillar (Helicoverpa armigera) and shown, using scanning electron microscopy, that each one can alter the surface of polystyrene film. When fed expanded polystyrene, the caterpillar's gut microbiome shifted, with the yeast genus Diutina declining and potentially plastic-degrading genera including Aspergillus, Ta

The global edible fungi market is projected to reach USD 50.4 billion by 2033, yet high moisture content and rapid deterioration mean roughly 10% of China's crop alone is discarded due to quality loss. Mushrooms spoil through four interlocking processes — respiration, water loss, enzyme-driven browning, and microbial infection — and emerging technologies from cold plasma to chitosan coatings are being developed to interrupt each of them. A review outlines how combining intell

Populations of common midwife toads (Alytes obstetricans) in the Pyrenees have survived outbreaks of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the fungal disease responsible for more vertebrate species extinctions than any other infectious disease in recorded history. Surviving toads secrete antimicrobial peptides from their skin unusually early, during the tadpole phase, giving them protection precisely when the transition to keratin-bearing adult skin makes them most vulnerable to th

Article produced in partnership with Applied Food Sciences, a leading functional ingredient manufacturer. Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) has become one of the leading ingredients in cognitive health, yet independent human trials show its effects are inconsistent, a gap rooted in how little the species name on a label reveals about a product's actual composition. Applied Food Sciences has published a validated UHPLC-UV method that measures the mushroom's key marker compounds