Fungus Among Us Could Protect Us From Pandemics

Paul Stamets is "The Crocodile Hunter" of Mushrooms—a world-leading mycologist who eats, grows, lives, breathes, sells, and even wears, fungi. He wants to create a research station on a remote island to protect old-growth forests containing a rare type of ancient fungus which he believes could protect people against COVID-19, or even future pandemics, noting that for thousands of years fungus was used to treat respiratory infections. Stamets notes that ancient Greek physician Dioscorides actually described the agarikon mushroom in his works, calling it the elixir of long life—particularly when used to treat tuberculosis.