The oceans, forests, and jungles of our planet are the sources of our oldest medicines. Long before a trip to the drugstore could yield a bottle of tidy pills, medicines grew in the deepest, most fertile places on earth.
And many of them grow there still, at least in the natural places that remain.
Fungi are vital to all life on earth. They exist inside our bodies, our food, and the soil beneath our feet.
Fungi have been used for millennia by cultures across the globe for their powerful healing abilities and as spiritual aids. Many modern medicines come from fungi, including penicillin, to fight bacterial infections. Other examples of medicines derived from fungi are cyclosporine from Tolypocladium inflatum, which enables organ transplants, and lovastatin from Aspergillus terreus, which is used to lower cholesterol.
…