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- Lion’s Mane mushrooms help nerves regrow by starting Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), which is good for brain health and memory.
- Studies funded by NIH show Turkey Tail mushrooms help the body's defense system in cancer patients getting treatment.
- Using fungi to fix polluted places has turned bad waste sites into good areas for life.
- Using mycelium to filter water can clean dirty water from rain and farm chemicals.
- Mycelium systems act like a "biological internet," letting trees and plants share things and talk to each other.
If you’ve heard talk about mushroom systems fixing nature or brain-boosting fungi that make your mind clearer, you probably know about the growing movement Paul Stamets leads. Stamets is a leading mushroom expert and someone who really believes in medicinal mushrooms. He has spent many years studying mycelium—fungi’s root system under the ground—and what it does for people's health, fixing the environment, and making the world better. This article looks closely at the many good things about mycelium that Stamets talks about, from helping your body's defenses to making soil healthy again, and how this simple thing might have answers to some big health and nature problems today.
Who Is Paul Stamets? Mushroom Expert and Supporter
Paul Stamets is a very important person in today's mushroom study—the science of fungi. For the past forty years, he has become a leader in knowing how fungi work with people's bodies and nature. Stamets has studied mushrooms and cares a lot about the earth. He has written important books like Mycelium Running, Fantastic Fungi, and Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World. These books have shown millions of people the amazing systems under their feet.
Stamets is not just a scientist but also someone who teaches and starts businesses. He is good at making hard science easy to understand. His talks, popular interviews, and films have helped put fungi in the spotlight in science and everyday life. Through his company, Fungi Perfecti, he sells mushroom products that are good for the earth and promotes using medicinal mushrooms to help people feel well. He has won many awards for his work, such as the National Mycologist Award from the North American Mycological Association.
The Power of Mycelium We Don't Talk About Enough
Mycelium is the big, root-like part of fungi that is under the ground. Mushrooms are what you see above ground, but mycelium is the main growing part. It is made of a system of tiny threads called hyphae. These threads spread out for miles under the ground, moving nutrients, helping plants talk to each other, and even fixing problems in nature.
Stamets calls mycelium “nature’s internet,” comparing fungal systems to the human brain. In forests, mycelium joins with plants in a helpful partnership called mycorrhiza. In this partnership, fungi give plants important nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, and plants give fungi sugars they make. This sharing not only feeds single plants but also helps whole natural areas be healthy.
Also, mycelium helps with
- Keeping soil steady: stopping soil from washing away and helping roots grow well.
- Moving carbon around: breaking down old plant stuff and putting important parts back into the soil.
- Nature's variety: making small places where tiny creatures, bugs, and animals can live.
For Stamets, mycelium does more than just help living things work together—it makes it easier for them to work together in smart ways. This suggests a kind of natural intelligence that could give ideas for new systems in technology and making things last.
Medicinal Qualities of Mycelium and Mushrooms
Medicinal mushrooms have been used in old healing practices for thousands of years. Now, thanks to scientists like Paul Stamets, modern medicine is starting to see them as real medicine. Many kinds of mushrooms have polysaccharides, antioxidants, triterpenoids, beta-glucans, and other things that can change how your body's defenses work and help nerves regrow.
Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus)
Lion’s Mane is one of Stamets' favorite medicinal mushrooms because it really helps the brain and nerves. He tells a story about how his mother got better from late-stage breast cancer, partly because she used Lion’s Mane and Turkey Tail supplements. This story has made people more interested in what these fungi can do.
Research shows that Lion’s Mane has hericenones and erinacines—things that start the making of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). NGF is a protein that is needed for neurons to live, grow, and stay healthy. Because of these things, Lion’s Mane may help with memory, focus, and making problems better for people with brain conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)
Turkey Tail has two strong beta-glucans, polysaccharopeptide (PSP) and polysaccharide-K (PSK). These things have been studied a lot for their ability to fight tumors and help the body's defenses. Studies funded by NIH have shown that PSP can make the body's defenses stronger during cancer treatment, especially for people with breast and colon cancer.
A very important study in 2012 showed that Natural Killer (NK) cell activity went up in patients who took Turkey Tail while getting normal treatments like chemotherapy. These defense cells are very important for finding and destroying bad cells in the body.
Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)
Reishi is called the "Mushroom of Immortality" in Chinese medicine. It has adaptogenic qualities—meaning it helps the body handle stress and stay in balance. Scientific studies have shown Reishi can
- Protect the liver: helping it clean out bad stuff.
- Help with sleep: helping the part of your nervous system that calms you down.
- Change body defenses: making macrophage and lymphocyte activity stronger.
Together, these mushrooms give you many ways to make your body's defenses stronger, help your brain health, and feel better overall.
Mycoremediation: Mycelium’s Job in Cleaning Up Nature
One of the most amazing areas Paul Stamets started is mycoremediation. This is using fungi to clean up dirty natural places. Mycelium sends out strong enzymes and acids that break down complex dirty things, such as oil from cars, pesticides, dioxins, and heavy metals.
In tests in nature, Stamets has shown surprising results
- In one case, fungi grown on soil with car oil in it lowered the amount of oil by over 95% in just one month.
- Soil that had no life before started growing grasses and plants, starting nature to get better.
Mycoremediation is a way to clean up pollution that is good for the earth and not too costly, unlike normal cleaning methods that often mean digging up soil or using strong chemicals. It gives hope for bringing back to life places hurt by factory waste, garbage dumps, mining runoff, and even radioactive dirt.
Mycofiltration: Cleaning Water with Fungi
Using similar natural powers to clean water, Stamets made up the word mycofiltration to describe how fungi can be a natural water cleaner. Mycelium's thick, thread-like systems can catch dirt and bad tiny creatures, breaking down dirty things that would otherwise pollute water under the ground and nearby natural areas.
Uses include
- Cleaning rain runoff: stopping pesticides and heavy metals from getting into rivers.
- Breaking down medicine leftovers: which normal water cleaning places often miss.
- Taking out E. coli and fecal coliforms: from farm wastewater.
One project working together in Washington state used mushroom mats near farms. The result was much less bad bacteria in the water downstream, showing that fungi can be a nature-friendly way to clean water instead of using bad chemicals.
Mycelium in Lasting Packaging and Building
The things that make fungi good for cleaning up nature also make them good for businesses that want to be lasting. New companies, many started because of Stamets’ work, are making packaging and building parts that break down naturally from mycelium grown in labs.
Good things include
- No waste in making: grown using leftover farm stuff.
- Breaks down naturally: goes away on its own in weeks.
- Keeps heat in and sound out: good for building materials.
- Hard to burn: safer without adding chemicals.
Brands like Ecovative and MycoWorks are already making mycelium packaging for big stores to use instead of Styrofoam. Building companies are now looking at using these materials for house walls, tiles, and panels—starting a new area of design that cares about the earth.
Psilocybin and Mental Health's Future
Even though Zombie Mushrooms does not sell or grow psilocybin mushrooms, we can't ignore that they are being talked about more and more in medicinal mushroom discussions. Paul Stamets is one of the few important scientists speaking up for doing careful, responsible research on psilocybin—the thing that makes you trip in mushrooms like Psilocybe cubensis.
New studies checked by other scientists have shown psilocybin might help
- Treat major sadness with effects that last a long time after just one or two uses.
- Make problems after bad experiences (PTSD) less bad in soldiers and people who have lived through bad things.
- Help stop bad habits, including wanting tobacco and alcohol too much.
Important places like Johns Hopkins, NYU, and Imperial College London are doing tests. They are showing more and more that what old cultures have known for a long time is true: psychedelics like psilocybin can start healing, personal growth, and mental clarity when used the right way.
The Biological Internet: Mycelium as Nature’s Brain System
Stamets’ idea of the “Wood Wide Web” is not just a catchy name—it’s something real you can see. Science studies have proven that mycelium systems can
- Send chemical messages between trees.
- Tell plants around about dangers like bugs or sickness.
- Help plants share food with each other.
This way of sharing info that is not controlled in one place is like how brain systems or computer systems are set up. Stamets thinks of this as not just natural smartness but a plan for technologies and groups that work with nature: helping each other, changing as needed, and not controlled in one place.
How to Grow Mycelium at Home: Start with Grow Kits
Now that you can get mushroom grow kits and mushroom-growing tools more easily, growing your own fungi at home is both easy and fun. This doing-it-yourself way can show you all the things Stamets teaches—from making things last to taking care of yourself and feeling well.
Getting Started
- Pick a kind: Lion’s Mane, Oyster, and Shiitake mushrooms are good for beginners.
- Use good spawn or liquid culture: make sure it is clean and has no bad stuff in it to grow well.
- Keep the conditions right: 60–75°F temperature, 80–90% wetness, not too much direct light.
- Wait patiently: in 2-3 weeks, you’ll start to see mushrooms growing.
- Pick them and do it again: some kits let you grow mushrooms more than once.
Grow kits give you more than just food—they help you feel connected to nature's cycles again and lower your footprint on the earth by using home-grown food instead of store-bought things.
Why the World Is Looking at Medicinal Mushrooms
People being very interested in wellness, body defenses, and living longer has made the demand for mushroom supplements, teas, capsules, and extracts go up a lot. Across the world, the medicinal mushroom market is expected to be bigger than $5 billion USD by 2027.
The main reasons are
- More people wanting natural brain boosters (things that help you think better).
- More people having long-term stress, sleep problems, and feeling burnt out.
- More people accepting ways of healing that bring together different treatments.
Stamets has always said that mushrooms are not just a short-term trend, but a deep natural partnership that has grown over time. Our body defense systems know and react to fungi because we have shared DNA and a history of living together for millions of years.
The Spiritual and Thinking Side of Mycelium
Beyond what they can do for us, Stamets asks us to see fungi as teachers about life. Mycelium shows us a way of seeing the world based on connection, giving and taking, and being strong. It shows how life grows best by working together instead of fighting each other.
For many, working with fungi becomes a kind of spiritual practice—a way of being aware of nature and thankful for the small things in life. Whether you're growing mushrooms or just seeing them on a walk in the woods, they change how you think about time, nature, and community.
Moving the Mycelial Movement Ahead
Inspired by Stamets and helped by learning and wanting to know more, a real “mycelial change” is happening. Mushroom experts, regular people doing science, nature-friendly designers, and teachers are making a worldwide culture that is not controlled in one place and has fungi at its center.
Together, we can
- Fix damaged natural places.
- Use less man-made materials and chemicals.
- Learn more about how living things work together.
Just like one spore can grow into a big mycelium system, one person's action can start big changes.
How Zombie Mushrooms Helps the Next Mushroom Experts
At Zombie Mushrooms, we are happy to be part of this movement by selling easy-to-use grow kits and good fungal cultures. Our products help everyday people learn about mycelium benefits for themselves—whether for getting healthier, making food, or learning new things.
We have a growing collection of how-to guides, recipes, and tips for fixing problems to make sure your mushroom-growing experience is good. With every new grower, the mushroom world gets bigger.
