Fungarium: Welcome to the Museum

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Los hongos están de moda, aunque siento que es más por el tema de las drogas y su carácter lúdico, y menos por las razones que me gustarían. Under UK law, food labelling cannot “attribute to any foodstuff the property of preventing, treating or curing a human disease”. Such claims fall under medicines regulations and require marketing authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). A spokesperson for the MHRA said it had received no marketing applications for products containing lion’s mane, turkey tail, reishi, cordyceps, chaga or shiitake, and that a number of retailers had been warned about making health claims for mushroom products and use of the term “medicinal mushrooms”.

Our specimens help us identify and describe species that are yet unknown (which is approximately over 95% of all fungal species). They also allow us to investigate the interactions between and distribution of plants and fungi, as well as understand and analyse the impact of invasive species, pathogens and climate change. When I first saw this book (and the others from the same series) at the bookstore, I thought it was meant for young kids; so I was elated when I found out that these are aimed to an adult public as well. I'm always happy when I find an adult picture book - plus, I am a huge mushroom nerd. I wanted to make sure that this was not a cover-buy or, in general, that I wasn't just buying this because it looks good (which it does, o so much), so I decided to read the kindle version first. And, well, I didn't really like it.Holding over 1.25 million dried specimens, Kew’s Fungarium collection is the largest, one of the oldest and most scientifically important, in the world. Ester Gaya is a senior research leader at Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England. She began her career in mycology in Spain and lived in the US before settling in the UK. She has spent the past twenty years researching fungi and is especially fascinated by lichens and their evolutionary process. Nota Bene: This book is part of the outstanding Welcome to the Museum Series, which are uniformly excellent. There are quite a few, some of which include: Planetarium, Dinosaurium, Botanicum, Historium, and Animalium.

Ester Gaya is a senior research leader at Kew. She began her career in mycology in Spain and after some time in the USA decided to settle in the UK. She has spent the past 20 years researching fungi. She is especially fascinated by lichens and tries to understand their evolution. Speaking of learning, I feel like I learned almost nothing from this book: the text felt sometimes waaay to scientific and technical (especially considering that it's targeted mainly to middle grade readers), and sometimes oversimplified. Overall, it gave off a sense of non-cohesiveness, and the illustrations of something incredibly pretty but also not really useful. Wendy Burford, Science Museum Group Publishing Manager, said: “We are thrilled that Planetarium will be joining the Welcome to the Museum series. Exploring Space is one of our most iconic galleries, filled with fascinating Space Age objects and stories. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and Planetarium will give readers a beautifully illustrated insight into our exploration of the universe so far.” The illustrations are gorgeous, of course, but there isn't even the smallest attempt at least some sense of proportion; plus - even thought this is a completely personal problem, I admit it - I find that this kind of encyclopaedic books work much better with actual photos than with drawings. After all, wouldn't it be much easier to recognize a fungus in real life if you firstly saw it in a photo compared to a drawing, no matter how beautiful and accurate? I understand that recognizing fungi in the wild is not the main aim of the book, but I still feel like I would have learned much more from real life photos. Big Picture Press, an imprint of Templar Publishing, is partnering with the Science Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to publish two new titles in its hugely successful Welcome to the Museum series. The first of the two books, Planetarium, in partnership with the Science Museum, is written by UCL Professor of Astrophysics, Raman Prinja and illustrated by The Book of Dust’s Chris Wormell. Set to publish later this year, the book will herald a likely surge in space publishing for the moon-landing anniversary in 2019.Fungi underpin all life on earth and yet it’s estimated that over 95% of fungal species remain unknown.

Specimens, paper records and objects can degrade over time, or could be lost in a catastrophic event. Imaging them today preserves them in digital form, for much longer than their physical existence. Created in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the captivating and fascinating text is written by Kew mycologists David L. Hawksworth, Laura M. Suz, Pepijn W. Kooij, Kare Liimatainen, Tom Prescott, Lee Davies and Ester Gaya. Los líquenes son posiblemente una de las relaciones más exitosas que existen en la naturaleza y se deben a una asociación entre un hongo y un alga o cianobacteria. De esta relación, el hongo, por decirlo de una manera, se hace del poder de la fotosíntesis y se beneficia de los azúcares producidos en esta relación. Tour the galleries and learn why fungi are more related to animals than plants. Discover how they evolved. Find out about their amazing variety of shapes and colors, some of them alien-like, almost monstrous, and disgustingly smelly, others incredibly beautiful.” So far, Emily and James have been well-introduced to the intricacies of the Fungarium’s archive and reference system. They are trained on the camera station within the Fungarium

Big Picture Press, an imprint of Templar Publishing, is partnering with the Science Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to publish two new titles in its hugely successful Welcome to the Museum series.

Dozens of claims are made for medicinal mushroom products. The Bristol Fungarium, for example, sells extracts of fungi that it says relieve anxiety, prevent wrinkle formation, stabilise blood pressure and ease hot flushes. From heart health and type 2 diabetes to allergies and cancers, the list of ailments that mushrooms are said to alleviate is long. But are these claims supported by scientific evidence? Or are medicinal mushrooms just the latest fad? The Fungarium was founded in 1879 with the donation of Rev Miles J Berkeley’s personal collection of around 30,000 specimens (including 6,000 type specimens). Our fungal collections are particularly rich in type specimens: original material that is used to make clear links between the fungus as a living organism and the name applied to it. The specimens in our Fungarium can help us to describe unknown species; understand the distribution of fungi and plant-fungus interactions; identify pathogens that could threaten crops; distinguish the spread and effect of invasive species; and analyse the impact of climate change. We can also extract DNA from specimens to find useful traits or to discover new medicines. Another benefit is improving access. Our collections and records are highly sought after by researchers, not all of whom will be able to access them in person.

Katie Scott graduated from University of Brighton in 2011. Her work draws influences from traditional medical and botanical illustration, both in aesthetic and subject matter. It also plays with the ideas of scientific uncertainty and speculation, fabricating the inner and outer workings of the world. Her illustrations depict a familiar yet fantasy vision of plants, humans, and minerals. Planetarium will give readers a beautifully illustrated insight into our exploration of the universe so far. Chaga, which grows on birch trees and resembles burnt charcoal, prevents wrinkles, helps counter IBD and fights bacterial and viral infections, according to some of those that sell it. Cordyceps militaris, the “zombie fungus” that inspired the HBO series The Last of Us, is reported to improve exercise performance, act as an antidepressant and boost female libido. In none of these cases however, are such claims supported by well-designed clinical trials. Veteran broadcaster Sheila Dillon, who was diagnosed with cancer of the bone marrow in 2011, shared some personal information while presenting a recent episode of BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme. She began taking mushroom supplements after discovering that patients in Japan were given them to help deal with the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and that there was, she told listeners, “a good deal of evidence” that they did. The last time she saw her oncologist, he told her she was “in danger of becoming a super-responder”.BBC Radio 4 presenter Sheila Dillon recently revealed she has taken mushroom supplements after her cancer treatment. Photograph: BBC What you learn about fungi is incredibly fascinating. For example, of the estimated 2.2 to 3.8 million different species of fungi on Earth, fewer than 5 percent have been identified! They are so diverse, and full of surprises. A lichen, for example, is actually made up of two different organisms functioning as a single, stable unit: a fungus, and an alga or cyanobacterium, which is it's source of food. Sort of like mating with a grocery store owner. Pretty clever! A digitised collection can be accessed online for free by researchers from anywhere in the world. It helps make research more efficient by sharing our knowledge with as many people as possible. Fungarium is aimed at adult visitors at Kew and joins the imprint’s “flagship” Welcome to the Museum series, which has sold nearly one million copies worldwide in 28 languages. Fungarium, much like the other compendiums from the Welcome To The Museum series, is stunningly illustrated and full of well researched, scintallating facts that will prove fascinating and useful in turn. Learn here about how fungus works, how mushroom is technically not a true scientific term, and about how fungus is one of those kingdoms we know so little on that we have discovered roughly only around 5% of what scientists believe to be the true number of fungus species on planet earth.