TED Community » Paul Stamets
About Me
Paul Stamets is an inventor, researcher and has authored six mushroom-related books. Several are used as textbooks around the world by the gourmet and medicinal mushroom industries. His has taught more than 2000 students in advanced tissue culture techniques. His extensive culture library of fungal strains, many of which are isolated from old growth forests, have been tested and provided results that could be game-changers for helping human and habitat health. He is the sole owner of Fungi Perfecti, LLC (www.fungi.com).
He has written more than twenty patents. He started a mushroom wholesale and retail sales business, Fungi Perfecti, LLC, in 1980. (See www.fungi.com.) The business has four laboratories, 10,000 sq. ft. of clean rooms, and is equipped with 20+ laminar flow benches for doing in vitro propagation work. Paul has received several environmental awards. In 2008, Utne Reader recognized Paul as one of the 50 Visionaries of the Year. In 2010, he received the President's Award from the NW Society of Ecological Restoration.
He was also recognized as National Geographic's 'Green-o-vator'. Paul is an advisor to the Program of Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Medical School, Tucson; on the Editorial Board of The International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, and was appointed to the G.A.P./G.M.P. Board of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. Many other physicians recommend his products for enhancing immune defense. Stamets is the supplier and co-investigator of the first two NIH funded clinical studies using medicinal mushrooms in the United States and in 2010, a NIH funded clinical trial showed positive results of his medicinal mushrooms used as adjunct therapies helping breast cancer patients, overcoming CD8 evasion by cancer cells, allowing innate immunity to produce NK cells bind and scavenge away cancerous cells.
He holds 5 patents on using mycelium to control insects, and most recently two patents (Feb 2011) are issuing which have the potential of replacing most chemical pesticides with a nature-morphed solution that not only can protect crops and buildings but also limit disease vectors carried by insects. These are disruptive patents - under which many derivative applications are likely for decades to come.
Paul's fungal strain collection is extensive and unique, with many of the strains coming from old growth forests, and his culture library has been called a 'national treasure'. Working with gov't laboratories, he had identified d a new group of powerful antiviral compounds, particularly from the old growth mushroom Agarikon which he believes holds a reservoir of medically significant compounds. Moreover, his work has naturally steered towards finding solutions to tuberculosis and other diseases caused by bacteria.
Married to Dusty Yao, whose shares a passion for fungi, and love of the old growth forests.
His latest book, Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, describes the use of mycelium for planetary healing. His other books include The Mushroom Cultivator, Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World (Paul's work on this subject was covered by a DEA license) & MycoMedicinals.
His latest invention, "The Life Box" (www.lifeboxcompany.com), is a clever and simple solution to empower individuals to help offset climate change and re-green the planet. The LIfe Box has hundreds of tree seeds and mycorrhizal spores infused into the corrugations of the box which sprouts a tree nursery upon activation.
Ken Kesey officially christened Paul and his wife Dusty as " Merry Pranksters". Indeed, they are.
- Location:
- United States, Olympia, WA
- Current organization:
- Fungi Perfecti LLC
- Current role:
- CEO
- Gender:
- Male
- Areas of expertise:
- mycology, mycofiltration, mycoremediation, tissue culturing
- I am:
- Activist, Consultant, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Idea generator, Inventor, Life mentor, Photographer, Scientist, Writer/Editor
- My website links:
- Fungi Perfecti , YouTube Paul Stamets channel, Life Box Company
- TED conferences attended:
- TED2014, TED2013, TED2012, TED2011, TED2010, TED2008
More About Me
I'm passionate about
Saving the Earth by re-investing in fungal networks, that build soil banks, supporting food webs, and preserving biodiversity. I believe mycelial membranes can prevent diseases and viral pandemics.
An idea worth spreading
Fungal networks, mycelium, has inherent properties useful for addressing issues of water cleansing, bioremediation, habitat resilience, disease mitigation, and strengthening foodwebs. After hundreds of millions of years of evolution, the kingdom of fungi represent a largely untapped resource rich in solutions of paramount importance today.
Habitats have immune systems that are fortified by mycelial networks setting the stage for supporting microbial communities and the bidirectional flows of nutrients to the benefit of the plurality of species in ecosystems. Mycelium is the foundation of the food web, our genetic ancestors, and learning of their evolutionary roles can help navigate towards a healthier future.
Mycelium can cover thousands of acres, and is primarily composed of carbon rich sugars which can be converted into alcohols such as Myconol. Moreover, mycelium sequesters carbon dioxide through production of glomalins & oxalates, making soils, reversing global warming
Talk to me about
How to prevent global pandemics and prevent extinctions. What can be done across the globe in using mycorestoration technlogies/teacher training centers based upon my book Mycelium Running
People don't know that I'm good at
Using fungal networks for solutions to reverse global warming, renewing soil, filtering water, breaking down toxins, mitigating diseases spreading from habitats to human, ehnancing immunity.
My TED Story
Mycelium ! Many of the solutions that challenge us today have solutions which are literally underfoot - the vast network of fungal cells, Mycelium, that are only one cell wall thick and yet one fungal organism can cover thousands of acres, achieving the largest mass and size of any lifeform on Earth. These fungal networks are in constant biomolecular communication with the ecosystem, and develop host defense strategies against the billions of microbes that in constant contact with mycelium. That these mycelial networks survive is a testimonial to innate ability to intelligently respond to catastrophia. We can learn from the innate intelligence of these networks, and in doing so, tap into what I believe is a form of natural intelligence. We need to listen to nature, and these mycelial networks have much to teach us - as they are- our ancestors. We share a common ancestry with fungi than we do with any other organism. See Mycelium Running, How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World.
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A comment on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
For a further update on my research, see my TEDMED 2011 talk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjv8Zj1ABAc
I am writing monthly columns on the medicinal and ecological aspects of mushrooms and other fungi for the Huffington Post. If interested in staying informed, go to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-stamets/
Respectfully,
Paul Stamets
www.fungi.com
A comment on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
My 10 minute TEDMED (October 2011) talk is up.
See:
http://www.tedmed.com/videos-info?name=Paul_Stamets_at_TEDMED_2011&q=updated&year=all
and be sure to also see for the Q & A
http://www.tedmed.com/videos-info?name=Paul_Stamets_at_TEDMED_2011_-_Q_and_A&q=updated&year=all
thanks for your support on this mycelial path.
please pass on.
cheers !
Paul (www.fungi.com)
A comment on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
Thanks for your inquiry. The Guiding Principles for this IP are attached to my patents and are listed in Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. Entomopathogenic fungi exist wherever ants and termites live. One of the many advantages of my inventions here is that we can take a native strain from any termite graveyard, for instance, and morph this native strain to be an attractant. Once a nest is treated, the spores form and repel future invasions. Hence, we can have a localized zone of control. Again, these fungi are everywhere where insects exist and indeed, are probably under every footstep you take on soils where insects reside. The treatment and effect is proximate. thanks ! Respectfully, Paul Stamets (www.fungi.com)
A comment on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
Thanks for your comments.
Here is what I said "Dusty and I, we like to say, on Sunday this is where we go to church. I'm in love with the old-growth forest, and I'm a patriotic American because we have those."
I have found evidence that our U.S. old growth forests could help our national defense. Nothing left-leaning about this. No mention of Republicans. President Teddy Roosevelt probably felt the same.about the old growth forest as I do. He was a Republican.
My patents are one place to explore the novelty of my ideas. (See www.uspto.gov) Patentability is given to novelty, not to what others think. If you go to my websites www.fungi.com, www.facebook.com/paulstamets or www.youtube.com/paulstamets , more information can be found on my work, as well as delving into any of my 6 books, including in particular Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms and Mycelium Running, both of which are highly respected and reviewed.
Much more is soon to come.
Thanks for your interest.
Respectfully
Paul Stamets
A comment on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
The tragedy in Japan has brought into focus, for me, what we could do to help heal the ecosystem. I suggest a novel mycoremediation strategy: The Nuclear Forest Recovery Zone. This approach would be to utilize the abundant wood debris, chipping it, and placing the chipped wood over the most contaminated landscapes. Thereupon, trees with mycorrhizal mushrooms, native to Japan, would uptake and hyperaccumulate radioactive metals, a phenomenon brought into focus after Chernobyl where one mushroom, Gomphidius glutinosus, concentrated 10,000 x the background, ambient levels of cesium 137.
Here is the url that has a PDF which describes, with references, this approach:
http://coalitionforpositivechange.com/stamets-fallout-mycoremediation.pdf
or you can go to my facebook page for updates:
www.facebook.com/paulstamets
We all must try to help the Earth recover from this global tragedy.
Respectfully,
Paul Stamets
A reply on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
A reply on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
We are on this Earthship together.
Some of us are working like heck to do something while others are contrarians trying to justify why we/they can not move forward. The body intellect of nature is vast and something to which we need to pay attention. Mycelium has opened up my eyes, and yet....this is a constant uphill struggle. Your thoughts help me move forward on this path. Thank you. Paul Stamets
A comment on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
http://fungi.com/mycotech/petroleum_problem.html
with a section entitled 'What we know' and 'What we do not know'. We are soon updating this section with our 'mycobooms' -oyster mycelium on straw. (See my TED talk for a description of our research in breaking down oil using oyster mushroom mycelium.) The advantage of these mycobooms is that they float, they release oil-eating enzymes over time, the straw and the mycelium absorbs oil, and they are fully biodegradable. These could be generated using storm debris, straw, etc...and produced by the mile, to be placed inside of containment booms, to help mitigate the oil spills within the marshes. The myceiiated straw sets the platform for oil-eating bacteria. This synergistic system, I hypothesize, may be an important tool in our tool-set of solutions. Stay tuned to www.fungi.com for more info. Thank you. Paul Stamets
A reply on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
Cheers !
Paul Stamets
A reply on Talk: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
http://www.fungi.com/mycotech/petroleum_problem.html
This will be updated periodically. Please spread.
Here is yet another example of how under-recognized/under-appreciated/under-funded the field of mycology is compared to other fields. There are 1-2 million species of fungi on this planet and so far... 0 species of life in space. Yet, the Dept. of Astrobiology at the University of Washington is better funded than the Dept. of Mycology. This is fundamentally wrong. At a time we have such dire need, one would think we would be re-prioritizing. The oil spill may cause a chain reaction of species extinction, harming our food chains and future generations with spikes in cancer, ecological collapse...... My work and that of others represent just a tiny fraction of the easily discoverable knowledge that exits, literally, under our feet.