Entrepreneurial mycologist Paul Stamets studies mushrooms. The focus of Stamets’ research is the Northwest’s native fungal genome, mycelium, but along the way he has filed 22 patents for mushroom-related technologies, including pesticidal fungi that trick insects into eating them, and mushrooms that can break down the neurotoxins used in nerve gas.

The webcast really gets interesting at minute 9 or so (in my opinion) with 6 specific examples.

Related: Fun Fungi – Thinking Slime Moulds – Microbe Types