Health News: Honey Fungus extract kills cancer cells

By Matthew Rooney

A group of Taiwanese researchers led by Yu-Jen Chen have been investigating the anti-cancer properties of Honey Fungus Armillaria mellea, the common parasitic fungus feared by gardeners and foresters the world over but also a delicious edible mushroom. Their research shows that extracts of Honey Fungus, Armillarikin and Armillaridin are cytotoxic and induce apoptosis (cell…

Mushroom News: Recycling lithium and cobalt from batteries

By Matthew Rooney

A team of researchers from University of South Florida led by Jeffrey Cunningham are developing a method for recovering the metals from scrapped rechargeable batteries using fungi. Cunningham presented his paper to the 252nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society this week. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2016/august/fungi-recycle-rechargeable-lithium-ion-batteries.html Many mushrooms are known to be bio-accummulators of metals and have…

Mushroom News: Vegan leather Muskin

By Matthew Rooney

Italian company Life Materials are producing a vegan leather-like material from mushrooms called Muskin. It has the texture and feel of soft suede. They make Muskin from the cap of a conk of Phellinus sp. This is the same group of mushrooms that have traditionally been used to make hats, belts and small leather items in Romania. One of…