Mushrooms, Electricity, and Neural Networks! - Herbal Visionz.

Mushrooms, electricity, and neural networks! — Herbal Visionz. https://www.herbalvisionz.com/psychedelic-blog/2018/3/29/mu...
HERBAL HOME SHOP BLOG
VISIONZ. LEGALIZE PSYCHEDELICS ABOUT
Mushrooms,
electricity, and
neural
networks!
March 29, 2018
Mushrooms, electricity, the internet and neural networks!
1 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
These things may seem unrelated, but are they really?! Lets
find out!
This is a photo of mushroom mycelium. Mycelium is the

underground root like structure of mushrooms.
You may notice how it looks similar to lightning and I’d like
to talk about how that may not be just a coincidence.
In biology, form and function are

connected.
The way something is shaped can be a clue to what its

function is. Mycelium looks like lightning and they also use
electrical signals to grow and communicate in a similar way
2 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
to our brain’s neural networks.
Fungi also happen to be good for brain health. Mycelium,

neural networks, and electricity all look similar and have
similar functions that are connected.
First, let’s talk about

how mycelium uses
electrical signals to
grow and
communicate.
Exhibit A!
3 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
Buy this book!
Radical Mycology!
In this book Published in 2016, author and mycologist Peter
McCoy, talks about how electrical influences seem to be
important to the process of fungal growth. This is one of the
most important books on the subject of mycology and Peter
McCoy has been studying mushrooms for over 15 years.
In one part of this book, he talks about how fungi are

electrical organisms that produce their own electrical
currents.
"From all that I have read on the subject of fungal growth,

electrical influences do seem to be central to the process.
Like all living beings, the fungi are electrical organisms that
produce their own AC and DC currents that can be altered
by external signals. Many fungi species are even attracted
to electrical fields, an effect known as galvanotropism.
Candida albicans will orient toward the cathodes of an
electrical field, and many mycelium-forming fungi will orient
their spore germination point of hyphal branching in
relationship to electrical currents. Growing hyphal tips
produce a -200 mV inward current, which may be due in
part to the strong concentration of positively charged
calcium ions located at the apex." (McCoy 17)
Learn more:
4 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1995.tb04314.x
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1995.tb04314.x
The Electric Fungus

(1995):
5 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
The Electric Fungus (1995):

"Fungal cells generate D.C. and A.C. (action potentials)
electrical currents during theirgrowth and differentiation. In
addition, they exhibit tropic growth (galvanotropism) and
tactic responses (galvanotaxis) in applied electrical fields.
The natural D.C. electrical currents of fungi are due to
clustering of ion channels and pumps in certain regions of
the cells, mycelium or thallus. It now seems that these
electrical currents per se are not essential for the process of
tip growth although the local traffic of calcium ions, which
are a component of the currents, may be. Instead, electrical
currents and action potentials are concerned apparently
with spatial control of nutrient uptake and perhaps in
intramycelium communication. Studies of the phenomenon
of galvanotropism have been used to explore further the
mechanisms underlying apical extension of hyphae and
these also implicate localcalcium ion uptake as being
important for this process. Motile zoospores of
phytopathogenic fungi exhibit galvanotaxis in weak
electrical fields of a size comparable to those generated by
plant roots. This tactic behaviour predicts the sites of their
accumulation in the natural electrical fields generated by
roots and suggests that they may utilize the endogenous
electrical currents of plants to detect potential hosts.
Generating and responding to electrical currents is
therefore an important and general aspect of fungal
physiology."
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080
/03746609508684833
This electrical current will actually

travel throughout the mycelium
which allows the fungi to send
6 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
information across long distances

kind of like the internet does....
Mycelium and the

internet? This leads
me to..
EXHIBIT B!
Paul Stamets!
Paul Stamets is thee mycologist that every mushroom lover
should know. He has been a dedicated mycologist for over
7 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
40 years and in a 2008 Ted Talk he called mushroom

mycelium the "Earth's natural internet”.
6 ways mushrooms can save the world | Pa…
He made the connection between the internet and fungi

because mycelium in the soil can connect different plants
allowing them to share nutrients and communicate about
their surroundings just like we do with the internet.
In his book: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help

Save the World published in 2005 Stamets says:
”I believe that mycelium is the neurological network of

nature. Interlacing mosaics of mycelium infuse habitats
with information-sharing membranes. These membranes
are aware, react to change, and collectively have the long-
term health of the host environment in mind. The
mycelium stays in constant molecular communication
with its environment, devising diverse enzymatic and
chemical responses to complex challenges.”
....Did humans invent the internet or did we unknowingly

discover it from Nature’s design?
Stamets believes
8 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
that mycelium is the

neurological network
of nature and this
leads me to....
EXHIBIT C!
Neurons!
Neurons look like mycelium and electricity and they also
have similar functions.
Neural connections in our brain create similar electrical

signals that are used to pass on information like the fungi do
when its using electrical currents to grow.
"Nerve cells generate electrical signals that transmit
9 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
information. Although neurons are not intrinsically good

conductors of electricity, they have evolved elaborate
mechanisms for generating electrical signals based on the
flow of ions across their plasma membranes. Ordinarily,
neurons generate a negative potential, called the resting
membrane potential, that can be measured by recording the
voltage between the inside and outside of nerve cells. The
action potential abolishes the negative resting potential and
makes the transmembrane potential transiently positive.
Action potentials are propagated along the length of axons
and are the fundamental signal that carries information from
one place to another in the nervous system. Generation of
both the resting potential and the action potential can be
understood in terms of the nerve cell's selective
permeability to different ions, and of the normal distribution
of these ions across the cell membrane."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11053/
Lions Mane mushroom is a great

tasting edible mushroom that
research is showing great potential
for brain health.
"Neurotrophic factors are important in promoting the growth
and differentiation of neurons. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is
essential for the maintenance of the basal forebrain
cholinergic system. Hericenones and erinacines isolated
from the medicinal mushroom Hericium erinaceus (Lions
Mane) can induce NGF synthesis in nerve cells."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24266378
“The subjects of the Yamabushitake group took four 250

mg tablets containing 96 percent of Yamabushitake dry
powder three times a day for 16 weeks. After termination of
the intake, the subjects were observed for the next four
10 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
weeks. At weeks eight, 12 and 16 of the trial, the

Yamabushitake group showed significantly increased scores
on the cognitive function scale compared with the placebo
group. The Yamabushitake group’s scores increased with
the duration of intake, but at week four after the termination
of the 16 weeks intake, the scores decreased significantly.”
(Mori, 2009)
This is a photo of Lion's Mane

mushroom....
Which looks like the cerebellum in

our brain....
11 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
Which looks like mycelium which

looks like electricity....
Magic mushrooms
and New Neural
Networks:
So-called “magic mushrooms” are being studied for their
potential to create new neural networks in the brain which
might be why they are helpful for people suffering from
PTSD.
"Drugs that modulate serotonin (5-HT) synaptic

concentrations impact neurogenesis and hippocampal
(HPC)-dependent learning. The primary objective is to
determine the extent to which psilocybin (PSOP) modulates
neurogenesis and thereby affects acquisition and extinction
of HPC-dependent trace fear conditioning."
12 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
Mycelium, neural
networks, and
electricity all look
similar and they all
have similar
functions. This leads
me to.....
EXHIBIT D!
Lightning increases
13 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
mushroom yields!
"A four-year study carried out at Iwate University in northern
Japan on ten species of mushroom (so far) has shown that
for eight of the 10 mushroom species a bolt of lightning-
strength electricity could double the crop yield. The best
improvements were found in the popular nameko and
shiitake mushrooms. The experiments were carried out by
seeding logs with mushroom spores and then applying
high-voltage electricity pulses to the logs.
A direct hit by natural lightning would burn and kill

mushrooms with up to a billion volts of electricity, so the
researchers, led by Associate Professor of Engineering,
Koichi Takaki, thought the increase in numbers of
mushrooms, if it occurred at all, could be caused by
exposure to a weakened charge that would travel through
the soil after a nearby lightning strike. They therefore used
less damaging pulses of electricity.
The experiments showed mushrooms react best when

exposed to a ten-millionth of a second burst of electricity at
50-100,000 volts. Under the best conditions the nameko
yield was 80% greater than the untreated control crop,
while the shiitake crop yield doubled. Takaki said the
mushrooms initially decrease the enzyme and protein
secretions from the hyphae (tiny filaments that spread under
the surface, acting like roots and giving rise to the fruiting
bodies such as mushrooms), but then suddenly increase
production."
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2010-04-lightning-

mushrooms.html#jCp
14 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
So now we know that

neural networks and
fungi
growth/communication
uses electrical
signals in similar
ways but did you
know that
mushrooms
themselves could be
used as batteries in
the future?
EXHIBIT E!
15 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
Mushroom
batteries?!
"Current state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries must be
improved in both energy density and power output in order
to meet the future energy storage demand in electric
vehicles and grid energy-storage technologies," said Vilas
Pol, an associate professor in the School of Chemical
Engineering and the School of Materials Engineering. "So
there is a dire need to develop new anode materials with
superior performance."
"He noticed a mushroom growing on a rotting wood stump

in his backyard and decided to study its potential as a
source for carbon fibers.
"I was curious about the structure so I cut it open and found
that it has very interesting properties," he said. "It's very
rubbery and yet very tough at the same time. Most
interestingly, when I cut it open it has a very fibrous network
structure."
Comparisons with other fungi showed the Tyromyces fissilis

was especially abundant in fibers. The fibers are processed
under high temperatures in a chamber containing argon gas
using a procedure called pyrolysis, yielding pure carbon in
the original shape of the fungus fibers.
16 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
The fibers have a disordered arrangement and intertwine

like spaghetti noodles.
"They form a conductive interconnected network," Pol said.
The interconnected network brings faster electron

transport, which could result in faster battery charging."
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-04-cook-battery-
anodes-wild-mushrooms.html#jCp
Mushroom mycelium
looks like neural
connections and
mushrooms are good
for your brain.
Mycelium, neurons,
both look the same
and both use
electrical signals to
share information.
17 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
And on top of all that

we now have
Mushrooms used as
batteries?! This
brings me to my last
but not least...
EXHIBIT F!
The Tesla Tower!

The Tesla tower, designed by Nikola Tesla in 1901 was a
18 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
tower built to transmit electricity through the air to send

information over long distances without wires.
How it works
"The power source is hooked up to the primary coil. The
primary coil's capacitor acts like a sponge and soaks up the
charge. The primary coil itself must be able to withstand the
massive charge and huge surges of current, so the coil is
usually made out of copper, a good conductor of electricity.
Eventually, the capacitor builds up so much charge that it
breaks down the air resistance in the spark gap. Then,
similar to squeezing out a soaked sponge, the current flows
out of the capacitor down the primary coil and creates a
magnetic field."
https://www.livescience.com/46745-how-tesla-coil-
works.html
Is it a coincidence
that this tower is
mushroom shaped?!
I think not! Form and
function,
people! Form and
function!!
19 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
At this point you are

probably looking at
me like I’m this
guy....
But its like Aristotle said, ”It is the mark of an educated

mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting
it”.
I ask you just to entertain the connection between

mushroom, neurons, electricity, and the internet.
Perhaps it is just a coincidence and its this way just because

it is but you have to admit you learned some cool things
like:
how mushroom yields increase with electricity
how mushrooms can be used as batteries
how mycelium shares and connects information just like the
20 di 22 01/04/18, 11:26
internet does
how electrical signals help fungi grow
how mushrooms are good for brain health
and how all these things are shaped in the same way and
work in the same way.
Perhaps its just a coincidence but I like to entertain the

thought that perhaps these connections are nature’s way of
communicating with us. Perhaps the form of something is
natures way of telling us how it can be used.
Mush Love,
@HerbalVisionz
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Mushrooms, electricity, and neural networks! — Herbal Visionz. https://www.herbalvisionz.com/psychedelic-blog/2018/3/29/mu...

HERBAL HOME SHOP BLOG

VISIONZ. LEGALIZE PSYCHEDELICS ABOUT

Mushrooms, electricity, the internet and neural networks!

This is a photo of mushroom mycelium. Mycelium is the

In biology, form and function are

The way something is shaped can be a clue to what its

to our brain’s neural networks.

Fungi also happen to be good for brain health. Mycelium,

First, let’s talk about

Buy this book!

In one part of this book, he talks about how fungi are

"From all that I have read on the subject of fungal growth,

The Electric Fungus

The Electric Fungus (1995):

This electrical current will actually

information across long distances

Mycelium and the

40 years and in a 2008 Ted Talk he called mushroom

6 ways mushrooms can save the world | Pa…

He made the connection between the internet and fungi

In his book: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help

”I believe that mycelium is the neurological network of

....Did humans invent the internet or did we unknowingly

that mycelium is the

Neural connections in our brain create similar electrical

"Nerve cells generate electrical signals that transmit

information. Although neurons are not intrinsically good

Lions Mane mushroom is a great

“The subjects of the Yamabushitake group took four 250

weeks. At weeks eight, 12 and 16 of the trial, the

This is a photo of Lion's Mane

Which looks like the cerebellum in

Which looks like mycelium which

"Drugs that modulate serotonin (5-HT) synaptic

A direct hit by natural lightning would burn and kill

The experiments showed mushrooms react best when

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2010-04-lightning-

So now we know that

"He noticed a mushroom growing on a rotting wood stump

Comparisons with other fungi showed the Tyromyces fissilis

The fibers have a disordered arrangement and intertwine

"They form a conductive interconnected network," Pol said.

The interconnected network brings faster electron

And on top of all that

The Tesla Tower!

tower built to transmit electricity through the air to send

At this point you are

But its like Aristotle said, ”It is the mark of an educated

I ask you just to entertain the connection between

Perhaps it is just a coincidence and its this way just because

Perhaps its just a coincidence but I like to entertain the

 Comment  2 Likes  Share

COMMENTS (0) Newest First Subscribe via e-mail

Preview POST COMMENT…

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