by

Tim Ferriss

Giuliana Furci on the Wonders of Mycology, Wisdom from Jane Goodall, Favorite Books, and the World’s Largest Fungarium (#525)

Leave a comment

Topics:
Artist's rendering of Giuliana Furci.
Illustration via 99designs

“It’s really not about rock and roll anymore; it’s about rotten mold. And we have to let things rot.”

— Giuliana Furci

Giuliana Furci (@giulifungi) is foundress and executive director of the Fungi Foundation (est. 2012), the world’s first nonprofit dedicated solely to fungi. She is a Harvard University associate, Dame of the Order of the Star of Italy, co-chair of the IUCN Fungal Conservation Committee, mother, author of several titles—including a series of field guides to Chilean fungi—and contributor to numerous publications on the environment, such as the first State of the World’s Fungi report (Kew, 2018), Biodiversidad de Chile: Patrimonio y Desafíos (Ministry of the Environment, Chile, 2008) and the IBPA Award-winning book Fantastic Fungi.

Giuliana has worked for the fungi since 1999 and in the nonprofit sector for the last 17 years. She has held consulting positions in US philanthropic foundations as well as full-time positions in international marine conservation NGOs and Chilean environmental NGOs.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Brought to you by Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement,  Eight Sleep’s Pod Pro Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, and Mack Weldon premium men’s basics. More on all three below.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Listen onApple Podcasts
Listen onSpotify
Listen onOvercast
#525: Giuliana Furci on the Wonders of Mycology, Wisdom from Jane Goodall, Favorite Books, and the World’s Largest Fungarium

This episode is brought to you by AG1. I’ve taken AG1 for more than a decade. Longtime listeners have heard me call it my nutritional insurance. Here’s the news: they’ve just launched AG1 Pro, designed for people focused on performance and longevity. I’ll be traveling soon, and I’m throwing this in my bag to cover my bases while I travel. Past a certain age, maintaining lean muscle becomes priority number one, and AG1 Pro is formulated to support exactly that. It includes HMB, a clinically studied compound that supports protein synthesis and helps reduce protein breakdown, plus zinc carnosine to support the gut lining. Remember: training is only half the equation. Recovery is where the work compounds, and AG1 Pro is built to support it. It’s NSF Certified for Sport, so what’s on the label is what’s in the pouch. Get your free AG1 Pro Yeti Shaker in the Welcome Kit at Drinkag1.com/Tim.

This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep. Temperature is one of the main causes of poor sleep, and heat is my personal nemesis. But a few years ago, I started using the Pod Cover, and it has transformed my sleep. Eight Sleep has launched their newest generation of the Pod: Pod 5. It cools, it heats, and now it elevates, automatically. With the best temperature performance to date, the Pod 5 ensures you and your partner stay cool in the heat and cozy warm in the cold. And now, listeners of The Tim Ferriss Show can get $250 off the Pod 5 plus an additional $200 off Pod 5 accessories for a limited time! Click here to claim this deal and unlock your full potential through optimal sleep.

This episode is brought to you by Mack Weldon! Mack Weldon is reinventing men’s basics. They believe in smart design, premium fabrics, and simple shopping. I’ve been focusing on their underwear and have been wearing their AIRKNITx 5-inch boxer briefs for a while now, and I absolutely love them. They are engineered to keep you dry, cool, and comfortable to the end of your workout (or workday). The fabric is soft, lightweight microfiber, which maximizes airflow and stretches in every direction. It’s breathable, moisture wicking, and odor fighting.

To get 20% off your first order, visit MackWeldon.com/TimTim and enter promo code TIMTIM. Mack Weldon—reinventing men’s basics.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

Want to hear an episode with the man Giuliana affectionately refers to as “Pablo?” Listen to my conversation with mycological mastermind Paul Stamets, in which we discuss fighting viruses with mycelium in a post-9/11 world, fending off carpenter ants with fungi, conquering a lifelong stutter with the assistance of Psilocybin cubensis, stacking microdoses of psilocybin with lion’s mane to treat neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and much more.

#340: Paul Stamets — How Mushrooms Can Save You and (Perhaps) the World

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

  • Connect with Giuliana Furci:

Instagram

  • Connect with the Fungi Foundation:

Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

SHOW NOTES

  • A product of exile: how Giuliana come to be born in the UK of a Chilean mother and an Italian father after her mother’s persecution under dictator Augusto Pinochet. [06:20]
  • After being born and raised in England, what was it like for Giuliana, at age 15, to accompany her mother’s return to Chile? Why was it not as smooth of a transition as she might have been expecting? [10:58]
  • As an undergraduate student, how did Giuliana choose her path of study? [14:05]
  • What is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), and how does one measure its success? [17:08]
  • How did Giuliana go from studying aquaculture to fungi? [18:20]
  • Why does it seem that mushrooms and fungi have been so understudied? [22:26]
  • What’s so unique about Chilean mycology that it became Giuliana’s life work? Has she discovered any new species of fungi? [23:57]
  • How can we determine with certainty the age of a fungal species? [27:07]
  • Are fungi gendered? [29:22]
  • What does Amanita galactica look like, and how did Giuliana choose the name? [30:34]
  • What’s the protocol when it is believed a new species has been discovered? How are specimens preserved in the field? [33:04]
  • Much talk about mate and tango — two things I loved in Argentina many years ago. [39:55]
  • Giuliana’s serendipitous discovery of a second species: Cortinarius chlorosplendidus. [46:30]
  • Why is Kew Gardens so important to the field of mycology? [48:24]
  • How a mushroom is like an apple — just a small part of a much larger organism. [49:22]
  • Why do mycologists believe some mushrooms have developed properties that are hallucinogenic or even toxic to other species? [51:22]
  • Giuliana is kind enough to give us a crash course in taxonomy 101. [55:38]
  • How does a fungarium’s holotype differ from a voucher specimen? [57:43]
  • How did Giuliana come to befriend the legendary Jane Goodall, and how has this friendship encouraged her as a fellow mother field scientist? [58:44]
  • Under Giuliana’s leadership, Chile became the first country in the world to include the fungi kingdom in its environmental legislation. How did she accomplish this, and what does she hope this achieves on a globally ecosystemic level? [1:03:25]
  • What are the implications of human beings being more closely related to fungus than fungus is to plants? For starters, consider penicillin. [1:10:06]
  • In what ways are fungi crucial for life as we know it to exist? [1:12:22]
  • What is the mission of the Fungi Foundation? [1:16:45]
  • What books have influenced Giuliana’s approach to the wonderful world of fungi? [1:22:56]
  • An ineludible responsibility towards the kingdom of the fungi: on finding simplicity in what, at first glance, seemed complex. [1:26:20]
  • The importance of taking time for self-reflection when you’re facing problems for which you’re uniquely suited to solve — especially in a world that’s so hyperconnected and focused on what everyone else is doing and choosing to share. [1:29:56]
  • What is the Telluride Mushroom Festival, what makes it such an incredible experience, and what will Giuliana be presenting there this year? [1:31:46]
  • What does it mean to be a Dame of the Order of the Star of Italy? [1:35:38]
  • I’ve an affection for the Fungi Foundation and find $50,000 a fine first offering. Feel free to inflate the figure financially at ffungi.org! [1:37:08]
  • Giuliana’s request of the audience: let things rot. [1:42:15]
  • Final book and movie recommendations and parting thoughts. [1:43:39]

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That's how we're gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you're rude, we'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)

11 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted

Keep exploring.