Feb 21, 2020
Nicholas P. Money, professor and director, Western Program, Department of Biology, Miami University, Ohio, discusses mycology and microbes.
Podcast Points:
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.