TIL Stamets is named after a real mycologist.
Comment on Mushrooms
Mobiuthuselah@lemm.ee 1 month agoThere’s a Paul Stamets video where he talks about how mushrooms are so closely related to humans that we both fight off similar pathogens and that is why they are so useful to us for medicine (penicillin for example.)
Klear@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Mobiuthuselah@lemm.ee 1 month ago
I was thinking, “he is a real mycologist,” before I figured out to whom you were referring.
Dave@lemmy.nz 1 month ago
Yeah, I don’t know if @Stamets@lemmy.world is a mycologist but he’s certainly named after one.
Stamets@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Named after an Astromycologist anyway. I try to distance myself as much as I can from the Union busting real world mushroom man
todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 1 month ago
In the Paul Stamets TED talk, he never says that humans specifically are genetically close to fungi. He said that between all the different kingdoms of life, animals and fungi were more biologically similar than any other two kingdoms.
That definitely explains why we can borrow useful defenses from fungi, like antibiotics, but it’s definitely not a reason to believe that our immune systems would have any difficulties differentiating between certain fungi and our own bodies, at least not for reasons related to direct genetic similarities.
Mobiuthuselah@lemm.ee 1 month ago
You’re right, my word choice makes it seem like I was saying fungi and humans are genetically related. Thanks for clarifying.
Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 month ago
There’s an enormous difference between kingdoms, so being more similar still leaves us very far apart.
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 1 month ago
That’s true. To even get to the mushroom kingdom you have to jump into a lot of pipes.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Yeah the similarities make sense when you look at sponges and sea lilies and the like, but the difference between a mushroom and a mammal is incredibly vast
Viper_NZ@lemmy.nz 1 month ago
Our immune systems can tell the difference between human blood types. Let alone fungus vs human.