The Fungi Factor – Nicholas P. Money, Professor, Western Program, Department of Biology, Miami University – Fungi and the Future of the Earth

Nicholas P. Money, professor and director, Western Program, Department of Biology, Miami University, Ohio, discusses mycology and microbes.

Podcast Points:

• What important information can we learn by observing fungi?
• The important points about climate change
• How does overpopulation impact the environment?

Money, an expert in mycology, is the prolific author of multiple books and articles that detail the microbial world. Money's latest book titled, The Selfish Ape: Human Nature and Our Path to Extinction, has created a buzz in the scientific community. In the book, he set out to counter many of the dominant narratives that exist in regard to homo sapiens. Money talks about the damaging effects humans have upon the environment as well as our negative impact on various species.

Money discusses carbon footprints, and he talks about his reasons for penning The Selfish Ape. Humans need to treat species more sensitively, and that's the bottom line. Money outlines many of the actions that have taken place in our time, and historically, that have impacted the environment overall. He discusses population growth, and comments on how little we hear about it when leaders talk of climate change.

Continuing, Money explains how fungi relate to our existence as humans. He discusses his career spanning more than 30 years, studying fungal reproduction. Money explains how fungi are different, and how they move, and he talks about the various qualities they have that typically do not exist in other places in the natural world. We can learn a lot about our own problems, as humans, by looking at, and studying, how fungi have solved theirs.