When I was not working on my experiment, I helped perform other tasks such as making regrind for other projects (including one for Courtney involving engineered wood) and hydrating blocks for Sarah.
Both Sarah and Courtney gave me readings to begin looking at ideas for my own experiment.
In a book called Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets, I was introduced to the idea of mycorestoration. This is a process by which fungi repair or restore the environment.
The following is a quick summary of four practices of mycorestoration:
Mycofiltration: filtering water, where the mushroom can act as a net to capture or digest toxins and contamination
Mycoforestry: sustaining forest environments through an understanding of the mushroom's role in an ecosystem.
Mycoremediation: using mushrooms to break apart toxins and even heavy metals from the land.
Mycopesticides: Creating biopesticides from mushrooms
It would be interesting to pursue one of these topics, especially mycofiltration. However, since these practices are new and much more needs to be discovered in these areas, this could make for a challenging experiment for me. This just depends on what I want to focus on and the experiment purpose and design.
Here are some awesome mushrooms I discovered from the book Mushrooms of Northeast North America by George Barron for your viewing pleasure.
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| Panellus stipticus,a mushroom that looks ordinary by day but glows at night. |
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| Marasmiellus candidus, they look like flowers. |
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| Lycoperdon perlatum, Gem-Studded Puffball |
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ReplyDeleteHi Adina, your lab is very interesting. It is interesting to see mushrooms grow better in dark treatment. Also, from our discusson during the meeting, I can clearly see how useful your project can be! It is surprising for me to learn that different mushrooms filter dfferent bacteria (It appears very obvious to me now, but before talking to you I never thought about it:D). So you probably need many different kinds of mushrooms I guess. I hope you will be successful on making this filter!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sherry.
DeleteHi Adina!
ReplyDeleteFrom our discussion, I also learned that light is a really important factor in growing mushroom. However, I still wonder how often the scientists weigh the mass and when do they stop growing. Yet, you explained that in general they know to stop when they start to see new baby mushrooms:) In addition, it is such a great opportunity to start your own experiment! I think your ideas of doing microfilter are great even though you said you might need to grow several kinds of mushroom in order to filter different bacteria! I am really looking forward to how it turn out:)
Thanks, Peggy - very encouraging!
DeleteAdina, you seem to be making good progress with your work. I am looking forward to what you come up with for a final project.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be behind with your blog posts. Please catch up as soon as you can.