Paul Stamets is the most well-known mycologist in the world. Stamets, who was raised in the Pacific Northwest, is a long-time resident and educator. His 2005 book Mycelium Running, How Mushrooms Can Save the World, summarizes many of his contributions over the years. He is now looking to the future and exploring how mushrooms can be used to help explore space.Stamets is part of a new venture in astromycology that was launched with NASA. He and other research teams are looking at how fungi can help to create extraterrestrial habitats, and maybe even terraform planets. Stamets' career has not been without speculative space research. A Star Trek character was named after him recently, an honor many would consider less prestigious than the Nobel Prize.Scientific American spoke to Stamets about the extraordinary implications of the new field of astromycology.[An edited transcript follows.]First, a chicken or egg question: Was Star Trek: Discovery naming a character after you, because you were exploring astromycology? Or was Star Trek's idea for astromycology influenced by Star Trek?CBS reached out to me to say that Star Trek writers wanted to speak to me. We were in the dungeon with about a dozen people, Star Trek: Discovery was our task, and we hit a brick wall. They also saw my TED Talk.Star Trek is different from other science fiction in that it pioneered inclusion, realizing that diversity gives us strength. As a mycologist, I have learned that biodiversity is what gives our ecosystems resilience. In the end, diversity wins.So I explained to them that terraforming other planets with fungi is possible. Fungi were among the first organisms to arrive on land. They ate rocks and gave birth to animals around 650 million years earlier. These fungal descendants were our ancestors.I replied, "You can have all of these concepts free." I'm a Star Trek fan. That's a wonderful phrase.What is the definition of astromycology in this nonfictional universe?Astromycology is a subset astrobiology. Therefore, astrobiology would include the study extraterrestrial biological organisms.You are really talking about the biology and ecology of the universe. Our fungi is part of that biology. Astromycology is the study of fungal biology in the universe. It is inevitable that we will one day find fungi on other worlds.How can Earth's fungi aid in the development of human habitats and entire ecosystems on other worlds?Plants that support Terraforming need minerals. The combination of fungi with plants and other debris from people [causes] them to] decay into rich soils that can then be used to produce the food astronauts require. It is much easier to grow one seed than to transport a lot of food to space. Nature is extremely efficient when it comes to payingloads. It is better for nature generates food rather than for your rocket carry food.The current NASA research proposal has two stages. The first stage involves the identification of the most effective fungal species to break down asteroid regolith. Are there any candidates you are currently considering?Regolith is basically asteroid dust. [Research teams] have created synthetic regolith which is supposed to replicate the components found on the surfaces of asteroids, and Mars. They are now working with them. My cultural library contains about 700 varieties of fungi. I was happy to make some recommendations and say that oyster mushrooms are among the most delicious ones we have tried on the regolith.We have recently discovered something unexpectedly synergistic when we took one species of fungi, gave it a nutrition source, and wanted to see how far it would grow in the regolith [with mycelial roots]. We took one species and looked at its reach in the regolith. Then we added other fungieach species to it. The outreach of multiple fungal species was much greater than we expected. It just goes to show that biodiversity is a whole concept.Once the best type has been selected, the second stage of your proposal is to determine the most efficient way to use the fungus. How might this look?Hydrocarbons are abundant in the universe. Oyster mushrooms are able to break down hydrocarbons, dismantle them, and then restructure them into fungal carbohydrates. Sugars are an essential nutrient for almost all living things on the planet. The idea of hydrocarbons being used as a feedstock to oyster mushrooms is a great one.These are the start/stops. Without essential nutrients, you can only get so far. It's not as if the fungi can just use hydrocarbons. They need an extra boost. We need to add to their needs. Once you start to make this reaction, it becomes self-sustaining. This catalytic reaction is self-sustaining if you give it more food. You are making other organisms live and grow. They can be used as a source of vitamins, minerals, or other organic compounds, such as cellulose and lignin. This can help these fungi grow larger, and support more plants that produce more cellulose. They eventually die and then decompose. These lenses of myceliumshallow are usually circular colonies that contain myceliumthen and begin to grow more. You are creating a micro-oasis that could be just a speck. These things then start to develop. As their communities become more complex and diverse, these lenses of light become larger oases. If the oasis environment is sufficiently large, it can support humans.Teams are also working to find out how fungi can be used to create healthy soil. Can you please tell me more about this so-called mycotecture?For example, we grow a lot of reishi mycelium. Reishi blocks are also grown. These blocks were to be crushed in order to make soil or other value-added products. We dried the reishi blocks, and tried to crush them. They were too hard to crush. They could be cut with a saw blade but they wouldn't break if you hit them with something like a hammer. This engineer made us a hydraulic stainless-steel press. It had about 20,000 PSI. We gave it my reishi block and it bent stainless steel. It actually broke the machine when it tried to compress it. It can crush rocks for hours, but it cannot crush mycelium.They are so strong structurally. They are also excellent at retaining heat so their insulation properties can be amazing. These could also be used as batteries. Mycelium can be used to make solar panels. Study after study has shown that porous carbon can act as a capacitator. These could be pregrowned and arranged in a way that makes them nanobatteries. They could be used to insulate from the Martian cold or asteroid surface. The house would also become a huge battery of power due to their high levels of carbon fibers. This is to me really cool.What timeline do you envision for this whole thing? This is the kind of thing that we could see in a decade or a century.Tomorrow. It's already happening. It is expected that it will be in place in space within 10-20 years.Let's be a bit more speculative before we conclude. What are some of these amazing ways that mushrooms could be used in space?What can I tell you? You know what I can tell you? ClinicalTrials.gov has more than 65 articles that state that psilocybin can help with depression, loneliness, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Are you concerned that astronauts will experience loneliness, depression, and PTSD? Yes, I believe so. I think so.Our astronauts will be able to use psilocybin while in space. This will allow them to feel connected to the universe. It will also give them an advantage psychologically and emotionally. They can work with other astronauts, and it will help them stay on their mission. I believe that loneliness, isolation, and depression will be major problems for astronauts.This is why I am sincerely stating the following: NASA, and all other people who are interested in the settlement of space should know that psilocybin should be an integral part of their psychological toolkit for astronauts. They will be able to withstand the loneliness and challenges of space and isolation.Psilocybin mushrooms increase creativity. People who are more creative tend to come up with better solutions. In a sense, I believe that this fertile ecosystem can help ensure the survival of humankind in space.
