Today on the Mushroom Hour Podcast we are blessed to speak with Manoj Doss. Manoj is a cognitive neuropsychopharmacologist at the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University. His research is at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychopharmacology with focuses on episodic memory and hallucinogenic drugs. Manoj utilizes complex cognitive paradigms, brain imaging, and computational modelling to explore what makes psychedelics unique compared to other classes of psychoactive drugs, both in terms of basic drug effects and mechanisms for treating clinical populations. Although Manoj is optimistic that psychedelics will soon have a place in psychiatry, he remains cautious of exaggerated claims and negligence to potential downsides, something he terms 'psychedelic myopia’.    TOPICS COVERED:   Cognitive Neuroscience & Neuropsychopharmacology   Psychedelic Neuroscience   Types of Memory - Episodic, Semantic, Procedural   Parts of the Brain - Hippocampus, Neocortex   Recollection vs Familiarity   Psychedelics Impacting Memory through Familiarity   Is Memory Stored in Parts of the Body Other than the Brain?   How Do We Make False Memories?   Debunking the “Default Mode Network” Narrative   Psychedelic Science and Incorporating Existing Scientific Disciplines   Showing Psychedelics are Actually Useful in Treating Any Disorders   Commentary on Structuring Psychedelic Research   Future of Psychedelic Therapy as Adjunct to Existing Therapies?   Tempering Conclusions and Expectations from Psychedelic Research   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Manoj Doss Twitter: https://twitter.com/ManojDoss   Manoj Doss Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manoj-Doss   Manoj Doss @ Johns Hopkins: https://hopkinspsychedelic.org/doss   John O'Keefe Nobel Prize work on Hippocampal place cells: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04913-9   Doss et al paper on reward dynamics: http://dml.ucdavis.edu/uploads/6/1/9/7/61974117/gruber_ritchey_wang_doss_ranganath_2016.pdf   Default Mode Network Hypothesis: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00020/full   PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story by Alexander Shulgin: https://www.amazon.com/Pihkal-Chemical-Story-Alexander-Shulgin/dp/0963009605   Janice Chen paper on shared experience: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=mOwF8UEAAAAJ&citation_for_view=mOwF8UEAAAAJ:M05iB0D1s5AC   Marc Berman paper on benefits of interacting with nature: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x   

Today on the Mushroom Hour Podcast we are honored to be joined by Geoff Williams PhD, International Sentinel Network Coordinator for the US Forest Service. Geoff studies the social dimensions and microbial ecology of host range expansions and geographic range expansions of forest trees, their fungal pathogens, and their insect herbivores. Geoff just moved to Oregon from West Lafayette, Indiana where he studied the role of the microbiome in Thousand Cankers Disease of Eastern black walnut in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University. Prior to that he has worked and lived in Idaho, Arizona, Mexico, and Chicago, originally hailing Ann Arbor, Michigan. In his current position he is gathering information on forest insects and pathogens across the world. The ultimate goal is to build networks of cooperation and information exchange with international collaborators to help protect native forest tree species in the US and all over the world from the next highly destructive or devastating insect or fungal pathogen that could be introduced through trade and travel. The opinions expressed by Geoff in our show to do not represent policy stances of the US government.   TOPICS COVERED:   A Winding Path towards Forest Pathology   Fungal Phytopathogens   Community Assembly in Forest Ecosystems   Novel Pathogenic Interactions in the Age of the Anthropocene   Proactive Approach to Managing Forest Pathogens   Complex Social Impacts of Forest Pathogens    Interconnectedness of Forest Ecosystems Across Continents    Global Forest Health Crisis   Interplay of International Trade Agreements & Natural Resource Protections   Sentinel Tree Network   Urban Forest Management   “Invasive Species” & Invasion Biology Framework   Invasive Species vs Invasive Populations   Citizen Scientist Role in Monitoring Forest Pathogens   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Geoffrey Williams Website: https://geoffreymwilliams.weebly.com/   Thousand Cankers Disease: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/plant-pest-and-disease-programs/pests-and-diseases/thousand-cankers-disease/thousand-cankers-disease   Geosmithia morbida (fungal pathogen): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosmithia_morbida   Juglans nigra (Eastern Black Walnut): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans_nigra   Laurel Wilt Disease: https://www.fdacs.gov/Agriculture-Industry/Pests-and-Diseases/Plant-Pests-and-Diseases/Laurel-Wilt-Disease   Sentinel Trees: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10340-018-1041-6   Cortinarius violaceus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_violaceus

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by the fungal trifecta behind Umbo Medicinal Mushrooms – Rashad Evans, Jake Plummer and Del Jolly. Rashad Evans is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion who intimately understands the connection between mind and body, and the importance of having both in sync. He credits mushrooms for that one-two punch of focus + energy in training and competition, and then easing the transition from fighter to daily life. Rashad is passionate about transforming sports nutrition and transforming access to education so that others can have the same opportunities that he did.    Jake Plummer is a Pro-Bowl NFL Quarterback who spent 10 years in the league earning a reputation as a natural leader. He inspired his teammates to believe in themselves and in each other – personal excellence for the sake of the team. This ethos is what drew him to natural medicine, eager to learn what mushrooms can do for each of us individually and how we can pool that collective power to help make a better world for all.   Focused on shifting the cultural narrative, Del Jolly worked as part of Decriminalize Denver and Charlotte’s Web CBD before co-founding Unlimited Sciences, a psychedelic research nonprofit partnered with the likes of Johns Hopkins University. He believes functional mushrooms have just as much, if not more, potential than psychedelics and is committed to exploring and unearthing everything he can.    TOPICS COVERED:   UFC, NFL and Medicinal Activism - All Roads Lead to Mushrooms   Introduction to Queendom Fungi     Athletes and Functional Mushrooms   Preaching the Mushroom Gospel to NFL and UFC athletes   Functional Mushrooms More Impactful than Psychedelics?!   Role of Psychedelic Mushrooms in Team Sports   Sparring & Microdosing   Fungally-Expanded Perspectives on Achievement and Dominance   We are all Actors   Mushrooms & Masculinity   Rites of Passage   Formation of UMBO & Entering a Limitless Future   The Power of Intention   Making Medicine Accessible to All   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Umbo Website: https://getumbo.com/   Umbo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getumbo/   Unlimited Sciences Website: https://unlimitedsciences.org/   MycoLove Farm Website: https://www.mycolove.farm/   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by mycological ally, cultivator and community creator Olga Tzogas of Smugtown Mushrooms. Her journey with Fungi and plants started over 15 years ago. She began working with these allies when foraging in both urban & more wild settings as she learned to identify species for food and medicine. Olga, alongside her community, established Smugtown Mushrooms to satiate their need for mushrooms & growing supplies, workshops, events & community-based science where they are based on traditional Haudenosaunee land, in the so-called city of Rochester NY. While learning more & embracing the never-ending, unlocked potential mushrooms & fungi have to help heal both people, planet & soul. Olga teaches workshops throughout the continent about wild mushroom identification, medicinal mushrooms, biology, and mushroom cultivation. She was a core organizer for the 2016 Radical Mycology Convergence and the MycoSymbiotics Festival from 2015-17. In 2018, Olga help co-create the New Moon Mycology Summit, a justice-focused, mycology centered event, linking many disciplines extending throughout the living world.  Olga is a member of the Rochester Area Mycological Association, CPAMC, WPAMC & the West Virginia Mushroom club. Annually, Olga guides small groups immersing in land based and traditional knowledge of Northern Greece, highlighting the fungi and plants there.  I’m excited to learn from a legend in mycology who seems to bring the teachings of fungi into every aspect of her life.   TOPICS COVERED:   Lifelong Love of Mushrooms   Forests and Mushrooms in Greece   Hosting Forage Trips in Greece   Mycology Reaching Across Disciplines & Cultural Barriers   Story of Smugtown   Grappling with Oligarchy   Are We Allowed to Just Exist?   Are Currencies, Corporations and Governments the Answer?   Starving for Natural Connection    Mushrooms Remediating Social Ecologies      Evolution of Mycological Community   Solutions Inspired by Mushrooms   Smugtown Shifting Focus to Community Building   Building Networks of Solidarity and Support    EPISODE RESOURCES:   Smugtown Mushrooms Website: https://www.smugtownmushrooms.com/   Smugtown Mushrooms IG: https://www.instagram.com/smugtownmushrooms/   Smugtown Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smugtownmushrooms/   New Moon Mycology Summit: https://www.facebook.com/newmoonmycologysummit   2021 Indigenous Peoples Day Event in DC: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/10/12/native-american-protesters-hit-by-sonic-weapons-in-dc/   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are excited to chat with internationally renowned wild foods expert, author, and public speaker Miles Irving. Miles has worked with some of the world's best chefs and has been a pioneer in the Wild Food Renaissance. In 2009, he authored The Forager Handbook, hailed by many as the 'foraging bible'. Through communicating with people around the world and delving deep into the environmental - and emotional - issues facing us, he has sought to bring together traditional ecological knowledge and those hungry for land-based connection, community, and culture. Reconnecting with the life-giving wild land which has long sustained us is key. There is not only a way forward but a wildly different way of looking at the world.   TOPICS COVERED:   Exploring Nature with Father & Grandfather   Connection with Nature Starts with 1 Species   Become a Recovering Weirdo   Activating Powers of Observation & Pattern Recognition   The Forager Handbook   Pulling Down the Neoliberal Regime   Greenwashing   Guiding a Lost Society Back to Nature   Going Deeper into Ecology through Wild Foods   Traditional Ecological Knowledge   Common Edible Plants   Nettle and The Umami Equation   Working with Acorn Flour   Porcini’s GABA-induced Happiness?   EPISODE RESOURCES:    World Wild Website: https://www.worldwild.org.uk/   Goldcrest (bird species): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldcrest   Mark Lewis (inspiration): https://prn.live/its-all-about-food-mark-lewis-chmachyakyakya-8000-year-crops-07-26-16/   Chamaenerion angustifolium (AKA Fireweed): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaenerion_angustifolium   Braiding Sweetgrass: https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass   The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-wild-wisdom-of-weeds/   Tending the Wild: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520280434/tending-the-wild   Dark Emu: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21401526-dark-emu   Boletus edulis (AKA Porcini): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_edulis