Today on Mushroom Hour we are grateful for the opportunity to interview biologist Nelson Dueñas who is a founding member of the MycoMaker project in Ecuador. Mycomaker is an organization that was born in the minds of biology students in late 2016 and was founded by Nelson in early 2017. The group has undertaken keystone fungal projects including promoting mushroom cultivation, researching mycelium as a building material, and even researching potentials of mushroom grafting!
Touching down on the sacred grounds of the Yasuni National Park in the Amazon, we meet some unique jungle fungi - bio-luminescent mycena, alien cordyceps and many others which first captured Nelson's imagination. Ecuador is the home to some of the world's most precious environmental regions including the Yasuni National Park, the Chocó bio-region, Los Cedros bio-reserve and the Mashpi rainforest reserve. Unbelievably, Ecuador is home to 6.4% of all species on earth in just 280,000 sq. km. This includes an incredible array of endemic fungi. How is this insanely biodiverse environment under threat? How much untouched environment is left in Ecuador?
Called to share his love of mushrooms and fungi, Nelson and a team including other biologists (and now designers and manufacturers) created the MycoMaker project. Inspired by the fungi visionary Phil Ross, one of their main goals was to pursue mycelium as a material. They dubbed their research in biomaterials "mycotectura" and began by creating art canvas from mycelium. In their materials research, the MycoMaker team experiments with many different species of fungi mycelium to explore the properties each can offer as a material aside from just durability. As we learn about their experiments in materials science, we glimpse a vision of a sustainable future that may find us living in domes made of mycelium.
Mycomaker's mission includes sharing a love of mushrooms and making mushroom cultivation more accessible to every community in Ecuador. In 2019, they hosted a special mycotectura fair that brought in hundreds of people from all walks of life to inspire them with mycelium materials and mushroom cultivation. Nelson sums up his team's ambition as sharing a love of mushrooms, changing people's perceptions when it comes to fungi, and encouraging them to recognize the importance of funga to the environment. As our conversation winds down, we venerate the mystery and awe that mushrooms represent. When it comes to fungi, the more we learn, the more we realize we don't know.
Episode Resources
MycoMaker website: https://hongos.guru/
MycoMaker IG: https://www.instagram.com/mycomaker/
Yasuni Rainforest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuni_National_Park
Phil Ross (inspiration): https://www.mycoworks.com/
Nidulariaceae ("bird's nest fungi"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidulariaceae
Ep. 158: The Hidden Kingdom of Fungi - Exploring the Microscopic World in Our Forests, Homes & Bodies (feat. Dr. Keith Seifert)
Ep. 157: Psychedelic Adventures into Microscopic Mushroom Worlds (feat. Irene Antonez)
Ep. 156: Chaotic Forager - Mycology, Ecosystems & the Explosion of Mushroom Media (feat. Gabrielle Cerberville)
Ep. 155: What a Mushroom Lives For - Matsutake & the Worlds They Make (feat. Dr. Michael J. Hathaway)
Ep. 154: Medicinal Mushrooms, Fungal Microbiomes & Alberta's Fungal Diversity (feat. Martin Osis)
Ep. 153: Rural Courses - Self-Sufficient Living with Fungi, Plants and Animals (feat. Michael White)
Ep. 152: Poland Fungi - For the Glory of Mushrooms (feat. Piotr Zieba)
Ep. 151: Neuroscience, Memory and Psychedelics (feat. Manoj Doss PhD)
Ep. 150: The Global Forest Health Crisis & the Sentinel Tree Network (feat. Geoffery Williams PhD)
Ep. 149: Umbo - Elite Athletes, Functional Mushrooms & Psychedelic Science (feat. Jake Plummer, Rashad Evans & Del Jolly)
Ep. 148: Smugtown Mushrooms - Fungi in Greece & Remediating Social Ecologies (feat. Olga Tzogas)
Ep. 147: World Wild - Guiding a Lost Society Back to Nature (feat. Miles Irving)
Ep. 146: The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss & Psychedelic Biochemistry (feat. Dennis McKenna)
Ep. 145: Dynamite-Throwing Fungi, Itasca Research Station & How Decomposition Builds Character (feat. Prof Jonathan Schilling)
Ep. 144: SQIM, Mogu, Ephea – Merging with Mycelium to Grow Regenerative Futures (feat. Maurizio Montalti)
Ep. 143: Wild Mushroom Education, Intentional Communities & Breaking the Binary (feat. Jules Amanita)
Ep. 142: Mycorrhizal Markets & The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (feat. Prof. Toby Kiers)
Ep. 141: Wild Creativity - Chocolate Ears, Mushroom Paper, Stinkhorn Juice & Amanita Ice Cream (feat. Fergus Drennan)
Ep. 140: Dropping Spores in Singapore & Bewildering Mycelium Creations (feat. Ng Sze Kiat)
Ep. 139: Funganista - From Music Stardom to Mycological Obsession (feat. Andy Overall)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Strange by Nature Podcast
Blurry Creatures
Bigfoot Society
Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks
The Wild with Chris Morgan