Today we are joined by Micahel Beug, a legendary professor and scientist from Evergreen State College. Micheal mentored a handful of the today’s great mycologists such as Paul Stamets, Jonathan Ott and Jeremy Bigwood. With a PhD in organic chemistry and a love for mushrooms, Michael’s expertise was and continues to be instrumental for the growth of mycology as a whole. After just publishing a field guide “Mushrooms of Cascadia: An Illustrated Key”, we are blessed to have this opportunity to talk with Michael. Tune in for some insider info on culture and science of mycology in the western world.

Topics Covered:

• Stories from the mushroom toxicology call list
• The development of mycology education at Evergreen State College
• Michael Beugs recent publication “Mushrooms of Cascadia: An Illustrated Key”
• Early mycological culture with a renown crew including Paul Stamets, Jeremy Bigwood, Jonathan Ott
• Researching psychotropic fungi at Evergreen: methods, chemistry, bureaucratic, and more
• Professor Beug’s specialty in  biochemistry and enzyme kinetics, and how that supported the mycology research at Evergreen
• Michael’s work on studying the ecological impacts of DDT, effectively ending the use of DDT in North America!
• Basics of fungal metabolism
• The national effort to define the mycoflora of North America

Show Notes:

• Michael Beug’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwbeug44/
• Publication on DDT: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/18165522_Carbonic_Anhydrase_Interaction_with_DDT_DDE_and_Dieldrin
• Mushrooms of Cascadia: An Illustrated Key: https://fungi.com/collections/identification-guides/products/mushrooms-of-cascadia
• Evergreen College: https://www.evergreen.edu/
• Fungi Magazine Contributing Author: https://www.fungimag.com/bios/beug.htm