​The thesis of The Telepathy Tapes podcast is that consciousness is not an emergent property of the brain but rather the foundation of the universe, something that exists as a type of field, like gravity or electromagnetism. Neurotypical people have a “dissociative boundary” that insulates them from this collective consciousness. However, certain people with autism, particularly nonverbal or minimally verbal individuals, are more attuned to this field, allowing them to tap into it (receive it? channel it?) more readily. This facilitates all kinds of parapsychological phenomena like telepathy, clairvoyance, and seeing spirits. The collective consciousness might also be called a different realm, another dimension, or just heaven.

​Maybe… I guess?

Ricketts Glen State Park in northeast Pennsylvania stretches over 13,000 acres. Most famously, it contains the Glens Natural Area, a National Natural Landmark. Creeks flow through these mossy glens and cascade in a series of waterfalls, one after another. Hemlock and birch, some appearing quite old, create wondrous rootworks along the flagstone paths that carry you along the edge of the water. I visited these Conestoga Susquehannock lands in early April, 2025. It drizzled all weekend and the air was misty, but that was no problem and contributed to a calm ambiance and more solitary experience. The waterfalls had a true Rivendell vibe. These were some of my favorites: 

In investigating the genetics and evolution of gyromitrin, I sequenced 75 Discinaceae genomes representing all the known species-group clades in the family and conducted phylogenomic analyses. This means that instead of using a few genes to infer a phylogenetic tree, thousands of conserved genes are used to infer evolutionary relatedness. Why are more data better? A few genes may conflict with each other in the story they tell, but thousands of genes typically result in a much more robust inference of evolutionary history. It's basically statistical — the bigger the sample size the greater your power to infer the truth (up to a point). Indeed, our large dataset allowed us to resolve the ancestral relationships of the lorchel family, and the results were published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (PDF). The lorchels are an amazing and diverse group of mushrooms whose taxonomy has been debated for centuries. With these genomes, we were able to not only infer a robust phylogenetic tree and make informed taxonomic revisions but also better understand lorchel ecology and reproduction based on their genomic properties. Check out a recorded presentation I gave for the North American Mycological Association winter webinar series if you'd like to learn more. 

MycoBank Taxonomy: Fungi, Dikarya, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Polyporales, Phaeolaceae, Wolfiporia

Earlier this year, I published an article in the journal Mycologia entitled “Not all bad: Gyromitrin has a limited distribution in the false morels as determined by a new ultra high-performance liquid chromatography method”, the findings of which are summarized here.

​Gyromitrin is a mycotoxin found in some false morels, also known as lorchels (mushrooms in the genus Gyromitra), and is highly toxic. However, methods exist to process toxic lorchels (particularly Gyromitra esculenta) to rid the mushrooms of most of their gyromitrin, allowing them to be eaten without suffering acute illness. People rave about the taste of these mushrooms.

In North America, Gyromitra brunnea, Gyromitra caroliniana, Gyromitra korfii, and Gyromitra montana are commonly consumed without special preparation, but not without controversy. Some anecdotally regard these species to be free of gyromitrin and safe to consume after thorough cooking. Others caution against eating any lorchels for fear that they may contain gyromitrin. Before our publication, no systematic study had been conducted to evaluate the distribution of gyromitrin in lorchels or the lorchel family broadly (Discinaceae).

​For more information on the chemistry of gyromitrin and a review of the relevant literature, please see the introduction in our paper, a PDF of which is available for free here.

The 2022 mushroom season is here! Yet again, I ask for your assistance in collecting lorchels and related mushrooms (Discina, Gyromitra, and Hydnotrya) to help determine the distribution, genetics, and evolution of gyromitrin. ​Gyromitrin is a mycotoxin produced most infamously by Gyromitra esculenta, a deadly poisonous mushroom that is consumed as a delicacy in Finland (after being properly prepared to remove most of the gyromitrin). We actually have no idea which genes make gyromitrin, how gyromitrin biosynthesis evolved in lorchels, or for that matter which species produce gyromitrin. I’m attempting to answer these questions for my PhD research! If you'd like to read more about the project, you can find a longer description in the research section of my website.

If you were able and willing, I’d greatly appreciate donations of any and all fungal specimens in the family Discinaceae (Gyromitra, Discina, and Hydnotrya). If you would like to donate any that you find for this project, a few things need to happen for the specimen to be usable:

The process by which a mushroom earns the badge of "edibility" is mysterious and fascinating to me, a product of time and place and culture. Ischnoderma resinosum, or the velvet polypore, is one that is generally regarded as inedible, and not for bad reason – the mature sporocarps are tough tough. But there seems to be a growing recognition that the young polypores are indeed edible, and not half bad at that. I myself was surprised when I first learned about somebody eating these, a Russian mushroom hunter in Madison, Wisconsin. Not only did he eat the velvet polypore, but he claimed it was his very favorite mushroom of all. I first sampled Ischnoderma resinosum with my older sibling in Toronto. After explaining to them that this mushroom was safe to eat because a knowledgeable Russian said so, and enjoying the meal with no health repurcussions, they now send me pictures excited to have found the "Russian polypore" again – a good example of the randomness and obscurity of the birthing of some common names.

MycoBank Taxonomy: Fungi, Dikarya, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Phallomycetidae, Gomphales, Gomphaceae, Gomphus

Now and again, a supportive fan of the 1001 Mushroom Project will offer up some of their mushrooms for me to eat and blog about. Because I want to go through the whole process myself (finding, identifying, preparing, and eating a new species), I almost always decline their generous donations, But when a mushroom hunter shared with me photos of these gorgeous lilac "chanterelles", Gomphus ludovicianus, and asked if I'd like them for eating – they'd collected them before but weren't a big fan, or eating any mushroom for that matter – how could I say no? 

ACTION ITEM: Sign a petition in support of students who want to change the name of the Entomological Society of America's annual competition, the Linnaean Games, and read their open letter to the ESA board on why it is necessary to do so. The text below offers further encouragment and background information, which is certainly relevant to mycologists as well.

Carl Linnaeus is one of many white historical figures whose legacy has been warped over time to hide away problematic aspects. We learn about Linnaeus at a very early age as the inventor of Latin binomials, a system of naming living organisms that is now highly encoded and regulated process for all life forms, including fungi. But what we don't learn about in school is his deeply racist beliefs of white supremacy, which were preserved in his scientific writings as an ordination of human races and ascription of pejorative moral and behavioral qualities to non-white people. It's awful stuff. As Linnaeus is the father of taxonomy, he is equally the father of scientific racism. 

MycoBank Taxonomy: Fungi, Dikarya, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Polyporales, Polyporaceae, Polyporus

This magnificent and exceptionally delicious mushroom is universally regarded as rare. While mushroom hunters may never see Polyporus umbellatus, if you do find it, you will be able to come back year after year to the same location for a new harvest. P. umbellatus grows from the ground as a parasite and saprobe of the roots of hardwood trees. It appears from May to October (spring and fall, but typically not summer) across North America, growing as a fractal rosette of umbrella-shaped fronds. For some people, the mushroom has less appeal than what is going on in the soil. Over many years perhaps, P. umbellatus forms a large subterranean mass called a sclerotioum. Sclerotia are hard resting structures capable of longterm dormancy for survival in drought and cold. Some sclerotia are small like seeds and others are as big as basketballs. In the case of P. umbellatus, the sclerotia can be enormous, more than a foot in diameter, with a solid, corky interior and black rind. In traditional Chinese medicine, the sclerotium of P. umbellatus goes by the name Zhu Ling and is taken for a number of purposes, in particular as a diuretic (to stimulate urination).

MycoBank Taxonomy: Fungi, Dikarya, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Polyporales, Fomitopsidaceae, Laetiporus 

Laetiporus sulphureus is a magnificent mushroom, easily identifiable by its bright yellow pore surface and overlapping, shelf-like growth on the standing or fallen trunks of hardwoods. It might just be my all-time favorite mushroom. The young mushrooms check all the boxes of a great wild edible: 

• Easy to identify (no poisonous lookalikes, beginner-friendly)
• Impressive appearance
• Fantastic taste, versatile, and wonderful texture (like chicken, lobster, or crab)
• Often found in large to enormous quantities
• Typically easy to clean
• Reappears in the same spot year after year 
• Money maker

That's right, if you find a mega flush, there will likely be more chicken than you can eat yourself and others will be eager to buy it from you. In Ann Arbor, chicken of the woods fetches about $16 a pound. The flush documented here, which I found when the mushrooms were just starting to bubble out of a large downed trunk, yielded about 50 pounds of tender chicken over the span of a week. 

MycoBank Taxonomy: Fungi, Dikarya, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Polyporales, Polyporaceae, Noefavolus

Mushrooms referred to as the hexagonal-pored polypore, or Neofavolus alveolaris, are common and widespread across eastern North America in the spring. They can persist through the summer, fall, and even into the winter, becoming hardened and bleached over time. Despite the common name, the pores are rarely perfectly hexagonal, instead usually vaguely and irregularly polygonal. Regardless, the hairy/scaly orange cap and large, elongated pores make this mushroom easily recognizable – that is, if we actually knew what we were identifying. Neofavolus alveolaris represents a number of cryptic species, which may not be all that suprising given that name has been applied to similar mushrooms occurring in temperate and boreal areas across the entire Northern Hemisphere (Sotome et al. 2013).

Mycobank Taxonomy: Fungi, Dikarya, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Agaricomycetidae, Agaricales, Psathyrellaceae, Coprinellus

Coprinellus truncorum (or more commonly referred to as C. micaceus - more about that later) is an inky cap, which means before you know it, the mushroom will enzymatically digest itself in a soppy process called deliquescence. Inky caps are really the milquetoasts of the mushroom world, turning into complete mush soon after fruiting. Deliquescence is much more than feebleness, though. It is a process of spore dispersal that has evolved independently in multiple lineages of mushrooms. Deliquescence starts at the edge of the cap and moves towards the stem. Meanwhile, the spores mature in the same pattern, but one step ahead of the destructive enzymes. As a result, mature spores are always at the edge of the dissolving cap - a perfect position to catch air currents for dispersal. If you are interested in learning more about inky caps and their taxonomy, check out Michael Kuo's page on the topic.

Mycobank Taxonomy: Fungi, Dikarya, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Agaricales, Mycenaceae, Sarcomyxa

I bemoan the appearance of this beautiful mushroom. The colors of the cap are wildly variable, ranging from ochre to olive-brown to steely blue-grey. It's subtended by a cute stumpy stem that is sometimes freckled. The gills are close and have an orangey-yellow color. So why does it bring me sadness? I divide my year in half: six exuberant months of mushrooms and six horrid ones of frigid temperatures, denuded vegetation, and dormant fungi. True to its name, the late fall oyster signifies the end of the mushroom season and the beginning of the long winter hibernation. In the Great Lakes region, you can find Sarcomyxa serotina growing from hardwood logs in late October and November. And, sorry to say it, there won't really be any edible mushrooms popping up again until the end of May.